Cadbury‘s Q1 profit rises by 26% to N912.77m

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Cadbury‘s Q1 profit rises by 26% to N912.77m
April 29, 2020

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Cadbury Nigeria Plc drew on its internal efficiency and top-line cost management to grow first quarter profit by 26 per cent in spite of eight per cent decline in sales.

Key extracts of the interim report and accounts of Cadbury Nigeria for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 released yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that net profit rose by 26 per cent to N638.94 million in first quarter 2020 as against N506.75 million recorded in comparable period of last year.

Earnings per share thus increased by 26 per cent from 26.98 kobo in first quarter 2019 to 34.02 kobo in first quarter 2020. Profit before tax had risen by 26 per cent from N723.93 million to N912.77 million. Turnover, however, declined by eight per cent from N9.28 billion in first quarter 2019 to N8.55 billion in first quarter of 2020.

The board of directors of Cadbury Nigeria recently recommended payment of N920 million to shareholders as cash dividends for the 2019 business year, second consecutive year of significant dividend growth.

Shareholders will receive a dividend per share of 49 kobo, representing 96 per cent on the payout for the 2018 business year. The company had distributed N471 million to shareholders as cash dividend for the 2018 business year. Shareholders received a dividend per share of 25 kobo for the 2018 business year as against 16 kobo paid for the 2017 business year..

The dividend was one of the highlights of the audited report and accounts of Cadbury Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2019. Key extracts of the report showed appreciable growths across key performance indicators.

Total turnover rose from N35.97 billion in 2018 to N39.33 billion in 2019. Profit before tax also increased from N1.22 billion to N1.54 billion while profit after tax jumped from N823 million in 2018 to N1.07 billion in 2019.

The 2019 report further strengthened the performance outlook of the food company, after it posted three-digit growths in profitability in 2018. The audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2018 had shown that the company’s full-year profit before tax surged by 242.9 per cent to N1.2 billion in 2018 as against N350 million in 2017. Net profit rose by 174 per cent from N299.9 million in 2017 to N823 million in 2018.

In a review, Chairman, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Mr. AtedoPeterside, told shareholders that the company’s positive performance was driven by success of its cost-cutting measures, effective marketing strategy, and superlative performance of its various brands.

Cadbury had last year appointed Mrs. OyeyimikaAdeboye as Managing Director with effect from April 1. Mrs Adeboye was the first woman to be appointed Managing Director since the establishment of Cadbury Nigeria over five decades ago.

Mondelçz International, a global snacking powerhouse, holds 74.99 per cent majority equity stake in Cadbury Nigeria Plc, while the remaining 25.01 per cent are held by a diverse group of Nigerian individual and institutional investors.