Companies
Nestle’s parent company increases stakes in Nestle Nigeria in August
The purchase consideration for the 748,047 additional shares at an average price of N1,174.74 is put at N878.8 million.
Nestle S.A, Switzerland, the parent company of Nestle Nigeria Plc and the majority shareholder of the company, has increased its stake in the Nigerian subsidiary, as it purchased about 748,047 additional shares in August.
This was disclosed by the company in a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which is seen by Nairametrics.
According to the document, which was signed by the Company’s Secretary, Bode Ayeku, the purchase was made on the bourse over two transactions on 20th and 26th of August.
This disclosure is a regulatory requirement which must be reported to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, especially when a major shareholder or director of a publicly quoted company purchases shares in the company they own.
The analysis of this development shows that the purchase consideration for the 748,047 additional shares at an average price of N1,174.74 is put at N878.8 million.
Importantly, this purchase increases the ownership percentage of Nestle S.A, this adds significantly to the multinational’s investment in the company as the parent company now owns 66.27% of Nestle Nigeria Plc.
The 66.27% ownership share of Nestle S.A. total amounts to 525, 307, 504 ordinary shares worth N617 billion out of the 792, 656, 252 shares outstanding.
Meanwhile, insiders’ transactions both sales and purchases are often an indication of how shareholders perceive the company’s valuation. It could also mean a possible capital raise or the majority shareholders strengthening their existing holdings.
About the company
Nestlé Nigeria PLC is one of the largest food and beverage companies in Africa. Nestlé Nigeria Plc engages in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of food products including purified water. It also exports some of its products to other countries within Africa.
It has three product segments: Food, Beverages and seasoning. The Food segment engages in the production and sale of Cerelac, Nutrend, Nan, Lactogen and Golden Morn. The Beverages segment engages in the production and sale of Milo, Chocomilo, Nido, Nescafe and Nestlé Pure Life. While the seasoning segment engages in the sale of Maggi cubes.
Key takes on Nestle financials
Nairametrics had earlier published after perusing through the company’s half-year unaudited financial report that the increase in the cost of sales, Administrative expenses, low finance income coupled with high costs coloured the bottom line of the company as earnings per share dipped from N33.11 to N27.53.
This shows the knock-on-effect of the pandemic on a giant like Nestle, despite grappling hard to keep revenues flat year on year, the increase in key costs still ebbed earnings.
Companies
Unilever earmarks N62 million as remuneration to its Non-Executive Directors in 2021
Unilever Nigeria has fixed its remuneration to the Non-executive Directors of the company in 2021 at N62 million.
One of Nigeria’s leading FMCG companies, Unilever Nigeria Plc, is set to pay out a total of N62 million as remuneration to its Non-Executive Directors for the year ended December 31, 2021.
This disclosure was made by the leading consumer goods company as one of the key resolutions that would be considered and passed at the Company’s ninety-sixth (96th) Annual General Meeting, which will hold on Thursday 6 May 2021 at 10.00 am.
The famed manufacturer of Sunlight detergent also revealed that in addition to the N62 million remuneration, sitting allowances will be paid at standard agreed rates for each meeting attended and the Chairman of the company will be entitled to a vehicle allowance of N12 million gross per annum.
READ: Heavy sell-off in PZ & Unilever shares leads to N6.09 billion market value loss
Short-term benefits paid by Unilever in 2020 to its Directors
Despite the fact that Unilever Nigeria Plc has not paid its shareholders dividends for about two years now, the FMCG company paid out short-term benefits of about N511 million and N73 million to its Executive and Non-Executive Directors in 2020 respectively, compared to a sum of N590 million and N59 million it paid out in 2019 respectively. The members of the leadership team, excluding the Executive Directors of the company, were paid a total of N867 million short term benefits in 2020, down from the N1.04 billion they received in 2019.
On the flip side, the total payout as wages and salaries to the company’s employee in 2020 was N5.05 billion, this is down from the N5.99 billion which the company paid out in 2019.
READ: Abdulsamad Rabiu set to earn N39.4 billion from his cement business
In case you missed it
According to a recent result by Unilever Nigeria Plc, the company made a loss of about N492 million in the first quarter of 2021. This figure is 144.1% lower when compared to the profit of N1.114 billion made by the company in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
Unilever’s revenue however surged by 45.7% during the quarter. However, the growth in the cost of sales, and the huge 63.3% increase in marketing and administrative expenses pressured the profits down to a loss of N492 million in the first quarter of 2021.
READ: Guinness shares surge by 9.89%, lifting the brewer’s capitalization by N5.9 billion
What you should know
- Shares of Unilever Nigeria Plc are currently valued at N12.95 per share, placing the YTD loss in the shares of the company at -6.83%.
- Unilever Nigeria Plc is the sixth most valuable consumer goods company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, with a robust market valuation put at N74.4 billion, higher than Guinness Nigeria Plc, NASCON Allied Industries Plc and PZ Cussons.
- The shares of the top FMCG brand is trading 23.8% lower than its 52-week high price of N17, and 23.3% higher than its 52 week low of N10.5.
Companies
COVID-19, VAT, FX scarcity adversely impacted our operations in 2020 – Nigerian Breweries boss says
NB Plc’s operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase and FX devaluation.
The management of Nigeria’s leading brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc has revealed that its operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase, FX devaluation and scarcity of foreign exchange.
This statement was made by the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, at the company’s pre-AGM media briefing for the financial year-end 2020, which held in Lagos this week.
He noted that the increase in the brewer’s cost in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the company’s operations, as well as the increase in VAT, devaluation and FX scarcity which has put pressure on input cost.
READ: Alcoholic beverage makers on NSE lose a total N27.7 billion in a single day
The Nigerian Breweries boss explained further that the increase in cost could not be fully attributed to currency devaluation and foreign exchange scarcity.
He explained that the increase in costs of goods sold, as reported in its audited financial results, could also be linked to the increase in the volume of goods sold, as the company’s sales volume in 2020 increased by almost the same percentage as the cost of goods sold.
To deal with this challenge going forward, he revealed that the company is focused on the supply chain, and will continue to seek out ways to mitigate any of the price increases coming from FX scarcity.
READ: Brewery sector: A quarter to forget
The company’s profitability in question?
An analysis of the company’s result revealed that despite the 4.3% increase in net revenue from N323.00 billion recorded in 2019, to a total of N337.01 billion in 2020, the company’s profit declined significantly by 53.3% to N7.53 billion.
Speaking on this, Jordi Borrut in his statement at the press briefing noted that the brewer’s business performance in 2020 was quite impressive especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. Despite these challenges, the company maintained a strong and healthy balance sheet.
“There was a slight reduction in profitability but compared to the previous year, the business witnessed an improved growth in revenue. The significance of this is that the business became more stable and healthier,” he said.
READ: Nigeria’s triangular beer war on the rise with the arrival of Budweiser
What you should know
- Nigerian breweries, being the largest brewer in the country, maintained its stance in terms of generating profits year-on-year. The company emerged as the only brewer to record a profit of N7.37 billion from its operations in 2020, 54.3% lower than 2019 figures (N16.1 billion).
- From this, the leading brewer was able to pay shareholders a total dividend of N7.5 billion, translating to a dividend of 94 kobos per share – a dividend payout in which exceeds 100%.
- While Guinness and International Breweries made a loss of N12.6 billion and N24.9 billion respectively, this reality impacted their ability to pay their shareholders dividends in 2020.
