Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V, the majority shareholder of Unilever Nigeria Plc, has increased its stake at its Nigerian subsidiary with the purchase of over 17 million additional shares on August 10, 2020.
This disclosure was made in a notification that was sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the food and personal care products manufacturer. The corporate disclosure was signed by the company’s General Counsel/Company Secretary, Abidemi Ademola.
Insider disclosures are reported on the NSE as a regulatory requirement, especially when a major shareholder or director of a publicly quoted company purchases its shares.
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The acquisition of the additional shares adds substantially to Unilever Overseas’ investment in the company. Prior to this time, it is already the single largest investor with over 70% shareholding in the company.
Analysis of this current acquisition shows that Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V. increased its stake in the firm with the purchase of 17,023,490 ordinary shares at N12 per share. The purchase consideration for this transaction, which was done on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, is put at approximately N204.3 million.
Unilever Nigeria closed at N13 per share on Friday, August 14, on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of about N71.81 billion. The multinational firm has about 5.75 billion outstanding shares with Unilever Overseas Holding B.V. as the majority shareholder.
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Insider purchases are usually an indication of how shareholders perceive the company’s valuation. It could also mean possible capital raise towards the strengthening of their existing holdings and some other things.
Unilever Nigeria Plc, which specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of food and care products, has been experiencing some turbulent times as it has been faced with the harsh business environment in recent times.
In its recently released half-year unaudited financial result for 2020, its revenue dropped to N14 billion as against the N23.4 billion that was recorded for the corresponding period in 2019. The firm made a loss of N1.63 billion for the half-year 2020 as against a profit of N1.9 billion for the corresponding period in 2019.
