Goddy Egene
Shareholders of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc are to receive dividend and bonus shares for the financial year ended December 31, 2019 following improved performance recorded for the year.
The company is to pay a cash dividend of N3.63 billion, which translates to N2.75 per share compared to N2.64 billion paid in 2018. In addition to the cash dividend, the directors have recommended a bonus issue of one new share for every five already held by shareholders.
Details of the performance showed that Julius Berger Nigeria posted a revenue of N266.43 billion, showing an increase of 36.8 per cent compared with N194.62 billion in 2018.
Cost of sales rose from N142 billion to N206 billion, while gross profit stood at N60.119 billion, up from N52.01 billion. Marketing expenses rose from N126.806 billion to N139.683 billion. Financing cost jumped 55 per cent to N7 billion, from N4.5 billion in 2018.
Julius Berger Nigeria ended the year with profit before tax of N13.918 billion, indicating an increase of 36 per cent from N10.197 billion in 2018. Profit after tax grew from N6.102 billion to N8.759 billion in 2018.
Meanwhile, trading at the stock market closed negatively as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 0.12 per cent to close at 22,705.19, while market capitalisation shed N15.1 billion to be at N11.8 trillion.
Activity also declined as volume and value traded fell 24.7 per cent and 43.7 per cent to 551.5 million shares and N5.8 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (137.2 million shares), FBN Holdings Plc (135.3 million shares) and Zenith Bank Plc (133.2 million shares) while GTBank (N2.6 billion), Zenith Bank (N1.7 billion) and FBN Holdings (N518.3 million) were the top traded stocks by value.
The price losers’ table was led by Transcorp Plc with 10 per cent, trailed by Jaiz Bank Plc with 9.3 per cent. WAPIC Insurance Plc shed 7.4 per cent just as FBN Holdings Plc and FCMB Group Plc dipped by 7.0 per cent.
On the positive side, Courtville Business Solutions Plc, LASACO Assurance Plc, Niger Insurance Plc, United Capital Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and University Press Plc gained 10 per cent apiece.
In terms of sectoral performance, the NSE Insurance Index led the gainers with a 1.3 per cent, trailed by the NSE Banking Index rose 0.6 per cent. Conversely, the NSE Industrial Goods Index went down by 0.5 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index lost 0.1 per cent.
