By Dipo Olowookere
Lagos-based Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Unilever Nigeria Plc, has announced that it recorded a sharp decline in the revenue generated in the first quarter of 2019.
According to the financial statements of the firm released on Thursday, it was disclosed that the revenue generated in the first three months of this year went down to N19.2 billion from N24.3 billion.
However, the company was able to reduce its cost of sales in the period under review to N15.4 billion from N17.6 billion.
Also, the marketing and administrative expenses reduced to N1.5 billion from N2.3 billion, while the selling and distribution expenses went down to N859.5 million from N1.1 billion.
An analysis of the results by Business Post indicated that gross profit reported by the company in Q1 2019 was N3.9 billion against N6.7 billion in Q1 2018.
Further look on the results showed that finance income improved significantly to N803.9 million from N465 million, but the finance costs increased to N94.4 million from N92.7 million.
According to the company, the profit before tax in the period under consideration dipped to N2 billion from N3.7 billion, while the profit after tax dropped to N1.5 billion from N2.9 billion, with the earnings per share (EPS) falling to 26 kobo from 50 kobo.
Adedapo Adesanya