Kayode Tokede
On the back of stronger profit in third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, 2022, five listed companies operating in the breweries manufacturing, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), among other sectors of the economy, announced a combine sum of N28.03 billion as interim dividend between November and December 2022.
The five companies are: Nigerian Breweries Plc, Presco Plc Nestle Nigeria Plc, Total Energies Marketing Nigeria Plc and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc.
These five companies overcame scarcity of foreign exchange, hike in operating expenses due to inflation rate and unstable power supply to declare N120.43billion profit before tax in Q3 2022, an increase of 30.14 per cent from N92.54 billion reported in Q3 2021.
Announcing a 13.2 per cent increase in profit before tax to N58.4billion in Q3 2022, Nestle Nigeria on December 5, 2022 will be paying shareholders a sum of N19.8bilion as interim dividend.
The multinational company declared an interim dividend of N25.00 per 50kobo ordinary share.
The Swiss- based food company and manufacturer of consumer goods recorded a 23 per cent growth in revenue to N261.6 billion and a profit rise of 5.2 per cent to N33.6 billion in Q3 2022.
Also, the board of directors of Nigerian Breweries had announced an interim dividend of N3.29billion payable to shareholders at 40kobo each per ordinary share of 50kobo.
Nigerian Breweries also announced a bonus scheme of one share for every four shares held by shareholders. The bonus shares with a value of N1.03 billion, will be issued from the company’s share premium account, which based on the 2021 audited accounts had a balance of N77.5 billion and N84 billion.
The management of Nigerian Breweries in a statement said, “The last three months saw the return of market seasonality characterised by lower volume performance. The market decreased by high single-digit reflecting pressure on consumer disposable income as well as heavy rains and foods. Nevertheless, we performed relatively well in the period led by our strong premium portfolio of Heineken, Tiger and Desperados. Revenue growth in the quarter driven by pricing was offset by higher input cost arising from increased rate of inflation and higher energy cost.”
For Presco, it announced interim dividend of N2.00 per N0.50 kobo ordinary share, translating into N2billion payout to shareholders.
The agriculture company announced N21.3billion profit before tax in Q3 2022 from N3.49billion in Q3 2021.
As Total Energies Marketing Nigeria declared N4.00 interim dividend, translating into N1.36billion, AXA Mansard Insurance announced N0.06 interim dividend for the period under review.
Capital market analysts said these companies’ performance and interim dividend payout showed the management effective management, reiterating how severe economy impact has affected on Total Energies Marketing Nigeria Q3 2022 performance.
Amid significant increase in cost of sales and finance cost, Total Energies Marketing Nigeria in the period under review reported a decline in profit before tax to N18.78billion in Q3 2022, a decline of five per cent from N19.72billion reported in Q3 2021.
In addition, AXA Mansard Insurance announced 42.9per cent drop in profit before tax to N2.86billion in Q3 2022 from N5billion in Q3 2021 over increase in Net underwriting expenses.
