Nigeria’s leading pharmaceutical company, May & Baker Nigeria Plc recorded impressive performance in the third quarter (Q3) as improving sales combined with increasingly efficient internal cost management lifted the bottomline by 44 per cent.
Key highlights of the interim report and accounts of the company for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2020 submitted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE) showed impressive growths in profitability as well as balance sheet. The actual growth in profit and loss figures was supported by considerable improvements in underlying profitability and returns ratios.
Despite the lockdowns and disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic and other macroeconomic headwinds, total sales rose by 8.8 per cent to N6.44 billion in third quarter 2020 as against N5.92 billion recorded in third quarter 2019. While cost of sales dropped marginally from N3.75 billion to N3.74 billion, gross profit rose by 24.7 per cent from N2.16 billion to N2.70 billion.
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Profit before tax jumped by 44 percent to cross the billion naira mark to N1.003 billion in third quarter 2020 as against N696.4 million in third quarter 2019. After taxes, net profit also grew by 43.9 per cent from N473.60 million to N681.70 million. Basic earnings per share expectedly rose by 44 per cent from 27.45 kobo in third quarter 2019 to 39.52 kobo in third quarter 2020.
Underlying profitability ratios showed a general improvement in the profitability of the company and value creation for investors. Gross profit margin rose by more than five percentage points to 41.9 per cent in third quarter 2020 as against 36.6 per cent in third quarter 2019. Pre-tax profit margin also rose from 11.8 per cent to 15.6 percent.
Return on equity increased from 8.5 percent to 11.1 percent while return on total assets stood at 7.2 per cent as against 7.3 per cent. Total assets had grown by 44.9 per cent from N9.58 billion in third quarter 2019 to N13.88 billion in third quarter 2020. While the company’s paid up share capital remained unchanged at N862.62 million, shareholders’ funds rose by 10.2 per cent to N6.12 billion in third quarter 2020 as against N5.56 billion in third quarter 2019.
Managing Director, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Nnamdi Okafor, said the third quarter results showed the resilience of the business strategy of the group in spite of the uncertainties and decline occasioned by COVID- 19 pandemic.
