PZ Cussons’ annual profit surges 276% to N6.7 billion

PZ Cussons Nigeria came within a whisker of recording its third and biggest loss in at least nine years in 2021 but found rescue in proceeds from sale of its properties, helping avert a big blow to its accounts in a year that was particularly turbulent for business.

The firm’s revenue neared the N100 billion mark as it reached its peak level since at least 2013 and was possibly at its all-time high in the review period.

But that did not translate to improved profitability and would have tipped the firm into its worst loss after tax level in nine years as income failed to keep level with costs amid Nigeria’s implacable inflation which accelerated to a 17-year high of 20.8 per cent in September according to the figures issued by the statistics office on Monday.

Centenarian PZ Cussons, which first set foot in Nigeria 1899 as a trading business, operates within the inflation-sensitive fast-moving consumer goods sector, where margin is thin and competition is fierce.

Turnover expanded 20.5 per cent to N99.5 billion, according to its audited earnings report seen by PREMIUM TIMES, as its two broad income categories, home & personal care products as well as durable electrical appliances saw reasonable growth.

While the former contributed 58.9 per cent to top-line, the latter accounted for the rest.

Cost of sales, the direct costs of producing the goods sold by the firm in the period, saw more-than-a-quarter surge at N75.2 billion.

Administrative expenses climbed to N10.2 billion, elevated by over a half as impairment of property, plant and equipment came to N3.4 billion compared to a year earlier, when no figure was reported.

PZ Cussons incurred N4.2 billion in foreign exchange loss, which compares the N6 billion loss reported in the same period of 2020.

Pre-tax profit stood at N10 billion, more than triple the figure posted a year earlier.

In all, expenditure including tax came to N103.1 billion, compared to total revenue of N99.5 billion, and would easily have plunged the firm into loss.

But N9.4 billion in other income and interest income of N836.1 million helped cushion the weight of spending on revenue.

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Specifically, the strong result owed its debts to the N8.9 billion coming under other income as profit from the company’s disposal of its non-core residential properties in Ikoyi, Lagos, one of Nigeria’s most prominent luxury real estate hubs.

The board noted somewhere in the audited financial report a proposal of dividend per share of N1.01 per unit summing up to a N4 billion payout in respect of the accounting year. That was four times more than the N0.25 per unit it paid for the previous year totalling N992.6 million.

Shares in PZ Cussons jumped 9.52 per cent to N9.20 per unit on Lagos’s Custom Street following the news. The stock was at the top of gainers’ table at the close of the bell.

With its shares returning 55.6 per cent over the past year year, PZ Cussons’ yield exceeds that of the Nigerian household products industries which, according to Simply Wall Street, has returned 3.2 per cent in the same period.