By Dipo Olowookere
Leading British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company with operations in Nigeria, Unilever, on Friday released its financial statements for the first six months of 2018.
The company, headed by Mr Alfred Yaw Oduro Nsarkoh, recorded a profit before tax of N7.6 billion in the period under review compared with N4.8 billion posted in the corresponding period of last year.
Also, its profit after tax stood at N5.7 billion as at June 30, 2018 versus N3.7 billion it was as at June 30, 2017.
It was disclosed that the revenue generated in H1 2018 was N48.6 billion against N42.6 billion in H1 2017.
However, the cost of sales recorded by the company skyrocketed by 11.8 percent to N32.8 billion from N29.4 billion 12 months ago.
Also, there was an increase in the selling and distributions expenses by 12.9 percent to N2.1 billion from N1.9 billion in first half of last year, while the marketing and administrative expenses surged by 31.7 percent to N7 billion from N5.3 billion.
However, the gross profit stood at N15.3 billion as at June 30, 2018 against N12.3 billion as at June 30, 2017.
In addition, the operating profit was N6.2 billion in the period under review in contrast to N6.1 billion in the corresponding period of last year, while the finance income jumped by 324.9 percent to N1.5 billion from N354.4 million.
Business Post gathered from the financial statements that the earnings per share of Unilever Nigeria in H1 2018 stood at N1 versus 97 kobo in H1 2017, while the return on assets closed at 4.37 percent against 3.04 percent, with the return on equity finishing at 7.26 percent in contrast to 4.84 percent.
