Economy
Nigerian Breweries Gains N6.9bn in 9 Months, to Pay 25 Kobo Dividend
By Dipo Olowookere
The board of Nigerian Breweries Plc has proposed the payment of 25 kobo as interim dividend for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.
The cash reward, according to the board, shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on November 20, 2020, and have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar, First Registrars and Investor Services Limited, to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts.
In a notice, the brewer said the register of members will be closed from November 23 to 27, 2020, and on December 1, 2020, the dividend will be paid electronically to beneficiaries.
In the first nine months of this year, Nigerian Breweries recorded a slight decline in revenue and this was mainly caused by the lockdown in the country in the second quarter of the year to control the spread of COVID-19, a global health pandemic still ravaging Europe and America but has subsided in Africa.
In the financial statements of the company analysed by Business Post, the net turnover dropped to N234.0 billion from N235.7 billion and in the third quarter alone, the revenue rose to N82.2 billion from N65.5 billion in the same period of last year.
Most economic activities resumed in the third quarter of the year in Nigeria after the government shut down most businesses in late March, especially in the sectors where products of Nigerian Breweries and others are consumed like event centres, hotels, bars and others.
The results further showed that the cost of sales in the first nine months of the year jumped to N144.1 billion from N139.5 billion, while the gross profit slipped to N90.0 billion from N96.2 billion.
Marketing and distribution costs stood at N52.2 billion versus N57.5 billion, while the administrative expenses closed in Q3 at N15.9 billion in contrast to N14.3 billion.
While the finance costs went up to N11.7 billion from N8.2 billion, the finance income dropped to N216.5 million from N228.6 million, leaving the net finance costs bleeding by N11.5 billion like in the corresponding period of last year, though lower at N8.0 billion.
Though in the third quarter alone, Nigerian Breweries returned to profitability but in the first nine months of the year, the profit was lower than the same period of last year.
The pre-tax profit for Q3 was N2.6 billion as against the N2.2 billion loss in Q3 2019, while the nine months PBT dropped to N11.0 billion from N17.2 billion.
In Q3 2020, the firm recorded a post-tax profit of N1.4 billion as against a post-tax loss of N1.0 billion in Q3 2019, while the net profit for nine months stood at N6.9 billion versus N12.3 billion in the comparative period.
The earnings per share (EPS) ended the period under consideration at 89 kobo compared with N1.53 it ended a year ago.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The federal government has said it would announce a new date for the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for this month, which was shelved in a circular on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning released a statement to announce the postponement of the FAAC Meeting for May 2022 over certain circumstances connected with the arrest of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris.
Mr Idris, who is a key member of the FAAC team, is cooling off in the custody of the agency over an alleged N80 billion fraud. He is helping the EFCC in its investigation into the issue.
As a result of his arrest and suspension from office by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the meeting for this month was shelved.
In the circular signed by the Director of Home Finance at the Ministry, Mr Stephen Okon, the federal government assured that “the new date for the meetings will be forwarded to you in due course.”
The gathering, which is held to share revenue generated by the country in the previous month to the three tiers of government; federal, states and local governments, was earlier slated to take place this month on Wednesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 19, 2022.
But Mr Okon stated in the notice that, “I am directed to inform you that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings earlier scheduled to hold virtually on the 18th and 19th May 2022 have been postponed due to certain circumstances.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange welcomed the bulls back into its fold on Thursday following a 0.21 per cent growth at the close of business.
The bulls were at the unlisted securities market yesterday at the invitation of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) and Food Concepts Plc, which recorded price appreciations during the session.
NDEP Plc gained N10 or 4.6 per cent to close at N220.00 per share as against the N210.00 it closed at the last session, while Food Concepts Plc appreciated by 6 kobo or 6.5 per cent to close at 93 kobo per unit compared with 87 kobo per unit of the previous session.
The gains reported by the duo expanded the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI) by 1.66 points to 808.79 points from 807.12 points and equally increased the market capitalisation by N2.17 billion to N1.06 trillion from N1.05 billion.
At the market yesterday, the trading volume rose by 17,545.7 per cent as a total of 20.0 million units of shares exchanged hands compared with the 113,500 units of shares transacted on Wednesday.
In the same vein, the trading value rose by 749.3 per cent to N24.4 million from the previous day’s N2.9 million, while the number of trades went down by 28.6 per cent to five deals from seven deals.
AG Mortgage Bank Plc remained the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc stood in second place with 661.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, while Food Concepts Plc was in third place with 134.0 million units valued at N114.9 million.
In the same vein, CSCS Plc ended the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 661.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, VFD Group was in second place with 9.4 million units valued at N2.9 billion, while AG Mortgage Bank Plc in third place has transacted 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the Dollar at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday by 0.34 per cent or N2 to trade at N615/$1 compared with the previous day’s N613/$1.
Also, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback yesterday by 0.26 per cent or N1.08 as it traded at N420.33/$1 in contrast to Wednesday’s closing value of N419.25/$1.
It was the second consecutive trading day that the local currency is coming under pressure amid disruption in the supply of forex to the market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The demand for FX is relatively high at the moment because politicians are trying to get foreign currencies to woo delegates to their sides to obtain tickets to contest in the 2023 general elections.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that at the investors’ FX segment yesterday, transactions worth $75.56 million were executed, 62.47 per cent or $125.78 million lower than the $201.34 million achieved a day earlier.
However, at the interbank segment of the FX market, the domestic currency closed stronger against the Pound Sterling by 38 kobo to trade at N516.49/£1 versus N516.87/£1 and against the Euro, it gained 37 kobo to sell at N437.48/€1 versus the preceding session’s N437.11/€1.
At the cryptocurrency market, nine of the 10 tokens monitored by Business Post recovered, with the crisis-hit coin, TerraUSD (UST), further losing 21.4 per cent to quote at $0.07479.
Ripple (XRP) rose by 7.2 per cent to $0.432, Litecoin (LTC) gained 4.8 per cent to trade at $69.99, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 4.6 per cent to sell at $0.5304, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 4.2 per cent to trade at $307.16, while Ethereum (ETH) went up by 3.7 per cent to $2,017.41.
In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped by 3.6 per cent to $30,086.44, Dogecoin (DOGE) moved higher by 2.6 per cent to trade at $0.0862, Solana (SOL) recorded a 1.5 per cent appreciation to sell at $51.09, while the United States Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.01 per cent to settle at $0.9989.
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