UNILEVER 97th AGM: Shareholders commend revenue growth, approve 50k per share dividend
Unilever Nigeria Plc which is known as leading consumer goods producer has declared a turnover of N70.5 billion for the financial year ended December 2021, even as the Board assured shareholders of their commitment to good corporate governance to drive sustainability and efficiency across the Company’s operations.
Unilever’s results for the year under review show considerable progress across all indices, owing to improved operational performance and greater investment in the supply and distribution network, which resulted in high volume.
According to the Company’s financial report, revenue from its continuing operations increased by 35percent to N70.5billion from N52.2billion the previous year. Profit before tax from its continuing operations was N1.9billion, compared to a loss of N4.5billion in 2020. Profit after tax from its continuing operations was N0.7 billion, up from a loss of N3.8 billion in the previous year.
Addressing shareholders at the 97th Annual General Meeting of the Company, the Chairman of the Board, His Royal Majesty, Nnaemeka Achebe commended the shareholders for their trust and loyalty to the company, despite the challenging business environment in the last two years.
Speaking on the results, Achebe said, “Despite the challenges faced, our operational discipline on secondary sales, trade debt, overdue, and cash management has driven the right kind of growth in 2021 as we continued to see growth coming back to the business.”
He added that, the management will maintain this strategic approach to the company’s operations to further achieve profitability and long-term growth.
In his remarks, Mr. Carl Cruz, the Managing- Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc. stated that the considerable improvement in the 2021 financial statements is a direct outcome of the Company’s management and staff’s renewed commitment to reaching new heights.
Mr. Cruz said, “Unilever Nigeria Plc’s increased focus on business fundamentals such as reinvesting in the brands, enhancing secondary sales, and ensuring adequate liquidity while tightening controls on cost in 2020, resulting in better operational discipline and governance of the business in 2021. We prioritised serving the mainstream consumer, ensuring that we met their needs.
“We saw Topline growth of 35 per cent over last year and a Consistent quarter-on-quarter average growth of 5 per cent. The bottom line grew by N7.4billion from a loss of N4.0billion in 2020. Our active management of cost inflation benefitted our P&L by 800bps improvement on gross margin. Cash managed properly such that we are declaring dividends after two years at 50k per share. Cash generated in the year at N18.8billion from N1.2billion in 2020,” he said.
Unilever Nigeria will continue to monitor the business environment and respond appropriately to the challenges with a view to providing solutions through its brands and operations.
As the world gradually makes return to normalcy post COVID, the AGM was by proxy with shareholders and the public attending online.
