Unilever, one of the largest players in Nigeria’s Fast Moving Consumer Goods market, has announced a decline in earnings for the first three months of 2019 and after a profitable outing in 2018, on account of a slowdown in sales, which weighed on its performance.
Profit for the first quarter fell by 44 percent to N1.5 billion compared with N2.74 billion on the heels of a 20 percent decline in revenue to N19.24 billion in Q1 2019.
The decline in sales was across the Food Product (FP) and Home and Personal Care Products (HPC) segment of the business. Foods segment of the FMCG Company includes sale of tea, savoury and spreads while Home and Personal Care focus on sale of fabric care, household cleaning, skin care and oral care products.
Unilever’s Home and Personal Care Product segment saw steeper decline up to 27 percent from the corresponding period of 2018, compared to 13 percent fall in its Food product sales in the same period.
Consequently, gross earnings declined by 42.5 percent to N3.87 billion despite a 12.6 percent reduction in the company’s cost of sales.
Unilever saw its gross margin drop in Q1 2019 as the amount of sales revenue it was able to save after its direct cost of production had been deducted fell to N20.11 from N27.68 per N100 over the period under review.
Operating Margin also declined from 13.7 percent in the first three months of 2018 to 6.85 percent as Operating profit slid by a wide margin to N1.32 billion in the three months to March 2019.
Profit Before Tax significantly to N2.02 billion, making little of 47 percent reduction in tax expense for the consumer goods firm as Profit for the quarter dipped and net margin was squeezed to 7.91 percent although it was 11.26 percent in the corresponding period of 2018.
Unilever gained 1.49 percent to close at N34, in Thursday’s trading session, 2.72 percent above its 52-week low of N33.10 as the market gained concluded the week early to observe the Easter Break.
Unilever, one of the largest players in Nigeria’s Fast Moving Consumer Goods market, has announced a decline in earnings for the first three months of 2019 and after a profitable outing in 2018, on account of a slowdown in sales, which weighed on its performance.
Profit for the first quarter fell by 44 percent to N1.5 billion compared with N2.74 billion on the heels of a 20 percent decline in revenue to N19.24 billion in Q1 2019.
The decline in sales was across the Food Product (FP) and Home and Personal Care Products (HPC) segment of the business. Foods segment of the FMCG Company includes sale of tea, savoury and spreads while Home and Personal Care focus on sale of fabric care, household cleaning, skin care and oral care products.
Unilever’s Home and Personal Care Product segment saw steeper decline up to 27 percent from the corresponding period of 2018, compared to 13 percent fall in its Food product sales in the same period.
Consequently, gross earnings declined by 42.5 percent to N3.87 billion despite a 12.6 percent reduction in the company’s cost of sales.
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Unilever saw its gross margin drop in Q1 2019 as the amount of sales revenue it was able to save after its direct cost of production had been deducted fell to N20.11 from N27.68 per N100 over the period under review.
Operating Margin also declined from 13.7 percent in the first three months of 2018 to 6.85 percent as Operating profit slid by a wide margin to N1.32 billion in the three months to March 2019.
Profit Before Tax significantly to N2.02 billion, making little of 47 percent reduction in tax expense for the consumer goods firm as Profit for the quarter dipped and net margin was squeezed to 7.91 percent although it was 11.26 percent in the corresponding period of 2018.
Unilever gained 1.49 percent to close at N34, in Thursday’s trading session, 2.72 percent above its 52-week low of N33.10 as the market gained concluded the week early to observe the Easter Break.
