By Dipo Olowookere
Brewery giant, Nigerian Breweries Plc, has declared a 27.72 decline in its profit after tax (PAT) in the first half of this year, closing at N13.3 billion against N18.4 billion in the first six months of 2018.
In the same vein, the profit before tax significantly depreciated to N19.4 billion in H1 2019 from N27.6 billion.
In the results, the finance costs of the leading brewery company increased to N5.3 billion from N4.3 billion, while the finance income declined to N198.5 million from N219.7 million, leaving the net finance costs at N5.1 billion in the period under review compared with N4.1 billion in the same period of last year.
A further look at the top line of the company’s financial statements showed that the net revenue generated went down to N170.2 billion in H1 2019 versus N172.7 billion.
The cost of sales, according to the company, increased to N98.5 billion from N96.6 billion, cutting the gross profit to N71.7 billion from N76.1 billion.
It was disclosed too that the other income dropped to N422.5 million from N430.7 million, while the administrative expenses reduced to N9.5 billion from N10.3 billion.
For the marketing and distribution expenses, Nigerian Breweries said a total of N38.2 billion was used in H1 2019 compared with N34.6 billion in H1 2018, indicating an increased by 10.41 percent.
In the period under review, the earnings per share (EPS) went down to N1.66 from N2.30 in the same period of last year.
Adedapo Adesanya