Guinness Nigeria Plc, on Wednesday, informed the public in a statement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, about the material circumstances that will impact its full-year financial results for 2020.
Excerpts of the report are as follows;
- The adverse impact of the sharp contraction in economic activities and the knock-on effect of the COVID-19 lockdown took a toll on the on-trade segment of the business across all our markets. Production and revenues have thus been negatively affected.
- Guinness Nigeria carried out a comprehensive review of its asset base and made a strategic decision to impair a certain category of assets, which were generating suboptimal returns. This is in line with the company’s long-term strategy of delivering value to shareholders.
- Due to a combination of the impact of COVID-19 and the asset impairment, we expect the profitability of the Company for the Financial Year to 30th June 2020 to be impacted. The Company’s balance sheet however remains strong, and this gives the Board the confidence that the Company has the right resources to continue to deliver the strategy.
Recall that Guinness Nigeria Plc reported revenue of N96.08 billion for the nine months that ended March 31, 2020, showing a fall of 5.3% compared with N101.40 billion recorded in the corresponding year of 2019.
In addition, financing cost rose by 97% to N3.582 billion compared to N1.817 billion recorded in 2019. Guinness Nigeria PLC ended the period with a profit after tax of N1.672 billion, plunging by 60% from N4.252 billion recorded in 2019.
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This report has further dampened investors’ moral as its share price plunged to an all-time low of N14.20. As at the time this report was drafted, the company’s market capitalization was N32.199billion, with earnings per share standing at 1.18.
However, its price to book ratio, which is valued at 0.3571 and a dividend yield valued of 10.38% showed the stock was highly undervalued and had great potential in the long term.
You may download Guinness Nigeria’s notification of material circumstances by clicking here.