By Dipo Olowookere
The first six months of 2020 was in no way pleasant for Unilever Nigeria Plc, going by its financial statements released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday.
The firm, which boasts of several popular household items like Lipton tea, Pears baby care goods, Lux soap, Close Up toothpaste and others, said its revenue for the period declined by 36.1 per cent.
An analysis of the results by Business Post specifically showed that the sum of N27.3 billion was the company’s turnover for the period ended June 30, 2020, compared with the N42.7 billion recorded in the same period of 2019.
A breakdown indicated that the two main segments of Unilever Nigeria contributed to the reduction in the revenue generated in the period under review.
It was revealed that the revenue generated from the food products arm of the business went down to N15.3 billion from N21.4 billion in H1 2019, while the home and personal care business raked N12.1 billion versus N21.3 billion generated in the first half of last year.
Also, in the results, the firm said its cost of sales stood at N21.2 billion in the period under consideration in contrast to N31.3 billion posted in the same time of 2019.
In addition, the gross profit went down to N6.2 billion from N11.4 billion, while the selling and distribution expenses decreased slightly to N1.8 billion from N1.9 billion.
In the first six months of 2020, the sum of N5.2 billion was used for market and administrative costs, lower than the N5.4 billion expended in the first six months of 2019.
A breakdown of the expenses indicated that N1.6 billion was used for brand and marketing in H1 2020 versus N1.7 billion in H1 2019, N3.1 billion was spent on overheads, same as in H1 2019, while service fees gulped N548.5 million, higher than N541.0 million in the corresponding period of last year.
For other income, which came from the sale of property plant and equipment, the company recorded N48.5 million as at June 30, 2020, compared with N28.9 million as at June 30, 2019, while it printed an operating loss of N1.4 billion in H1 2020 in contrast to an operating profit of N3.9 billion in H1 2019.
Unilever Nigeria, in the financial statements, said its finance income decreased to N849.4 million from N1.2 billion, just as its finance costs significantly dropped to N5.2 million from N357.3 million.
Business Post observed that despite having a tax credit of N47.7 million in the period under review, Unilever Nigeria declared a loss after tax of N519.1 million versus the profit after tax of N3.5 billion in the same period of last year.
Also, the company’s earnings per share (EPS) dropped to -9 kobo from 61 kobo in H1 2019.
Adedapo Adesanya 
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