Markets
Cadbury’s yearly earnings before tax declined by 73.5% to N408 million in 2020
Cadbury’s earnings in 2020 were pressured by rising input costs.
Cadbury Nigeria Plc via the Nigerian Stock exchange recently declared a 73.5% year-to-year fall in earnings before tax to N408.1 million for the 2020 financial year.
The company also announced a dividend of 18 kobo; lower than the 49 kobo total dividend announced in 2019.
Cadbury’s revenue declined by 2.78% YoY to N35.41 billion amid disruption occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic which impacted the trade channel and the company’s domestic and export sales during the year.
READ: Oba Otudeko’s stakes in Firstbank and Honeywell are worth over N10 billion
- Amid this disruption, domestic sales declined by a single digit 6.5% to N32.3 billion.
- The company’s export sales declined significantly by 36.24% to N3.1 billion.
Gross margin contracted by 4.51 ppts (percentage points) to 16.66%, which points to the escalation of input costs despite cost-containment measures to place profit on the path of sustainable growth.
READ: Lafarge Africa annual profit surges by 98.8% to N30.8 billion in 2020
In line with this, Cadbury’s gross profit declined by 29.15% to N5.9 billion; lower than the N8.33 billion realised in 2019.
Despite all these, the company’s liquidity position improved this year driven by an 86.1% increase in net cash generated from operating activities, which rose sharply to N4.25 billion from N2.29 billion.
What you should know
The operation of Cadbury Nigeria Plc dates back to the 1950s when the business was founded to source cocoa beans from Nigeria.
Since then, the company has grown to become one of the leading players in the industry, providing consumers with many well-known and patronised brands.
- Mondelez International has a majority equity-interest of 74.97% in Cadbury Nigeria via its stakes in Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited (CSOL).
- The remaining 25.03% equity-ownership is held by a diverse group of Nigerian individuals and institutional shareholders.
- Cadbury’s market capitalization at today’s market open price of N8.25 is put at N15.5 billion.
Cryptocurrency
Bloody Sunday: Over 1 million investors liquidated, altcoins crash by 20%
For the day, about 1,018,638 investors had their account worth about $10 billion liquidated.
A significant number of investors in the crypto market have had their accounts liquidated amid the sudden drop seen in a number of altcoin assets.
For the day, about 1,018,638 investors had their account worth about $10 billion liquidated. The largest single liquidation order happened on Binance-BTC valued at $68.73 million.
The flagship altcoin is under high selling pressure with Ethereum trading at $1,952 at the time of writing this report, down 21.46% for the day. It is the biggest daily drop since March 12, 2020.
Such a fall pushed Ethereum’s market value to $247.15 billion, or 12.16% of the total cryptocurrency market value. At its highest, Ethereum’s market value was close to $300 billion.
On the altcoins side, the sudden crash at the time of writing this report could not be fully assessed, but market sentiments point to rumours that the U.S. Treasury is planning to charge several financial institutions for money laundering using crypto.
Top cryptos such as XRP lost as much as 21.17%, Polkadot and Litecoin were down by 20%, bitcoin cash down 20% for the day, while dogecoin has lost about 15% in value.
Many weeks ago, leading United Kingdom financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, issued a piece of stern advice on crypto investments. The statement highlighted the risks associated with investing in Bitcoin and other crypto assets and warned the public that there were high chances that all their funds could be lost.
“The FCA is aware that some firms are offering investments in crypto assets or lending or investments linked to crypto assets, that promise high returns.
“Investing in crypto assets, or investments and lending linked to them generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money,” said the FCA.
That said, a significant number of crypto investors appear to be shrugging off the huge fall as another typical bump on the crypto path, and one which, no doubt, will likely see crypto trading volume return as crypto investors look to buy what many are viewing as a bargain, to buy into what is still very much a bullish run.
Cryptocurrency
Crypto Armageddon: Over $200 billion wiped off in the Crypto market
The global crypto market value was put at $2.03 trillion, a 10.42% plunge for the day.
The Crypto is under intense selling pressure amid the recent sell-offs in the cryptoverse, as the fast ever-changing Crypto market lost over $200 billion in value within a few hours.
The flagship crypto was down by more than 5,000 dollars pulling back below $60,000.
At the time of writing this report, the global crypto market value was put at $2.03 trillion, a 10.42% plunge for the day.
The crypto market has shed much of its stellar gains earlier recorded, as significant selling pressure from crypto investors pushed the value of cryptos lower across the market spectrum amid profit-taking.
Other Crypto assets like XRP, Bitcoin Cash EOS, lost as much as 20% within a twinkle of the eyes.
Market pundits argue that a likely factor for such intense drop was the relatively high funding rates for taking long positions on Bitcoin alongside a strong dark cloud built around the $64,000-$65,000 price level.
Adding credence to such bias is Cantering Clark, a popular crypto strategist, who added that recent data points to the market cooling off arbitrarily.
“50k and 80k strikes highest contract/notional for $BTC I think these writers will be happy and I am still in the same opinion that the end of April – May begins the shift that makes Bitcoin a less favourable long. No breakout, just range and rotation.”
50k and 80k strikes highest contract/notional for $BTC
I think these writers will be happy and I am still in the same opinion that the end of April – May begins the shift that makes Bitcoin a less favorable long.
No breakout, just range and rotation. pic.twitter.com/zWXurtIr2q
— Cantering Clark (@CanteringClark) April 17, 2021
Crypto pundits anonymously interviewed by Nairametrics are saying that a market correction was long overdue after the sudden bullish move.
The bearish trend prevailing at the bitcoin market is largely attributed to a significant amount of profit-taking in play, on the account that Bitcoin’s realized profits are at record highs.
