NIGERIA – Cadbury Nigeria, subsidiary of snack and confectionery firm Mondelez International has reported a 10% decline in full year revenue for the period ended December 2020, to N35.41 billion (US$86.5m).

The decline, according to Naira Metrics was occasioned by the decrease in domestic and export sales, spearheaded by the impact of COVID-19, which further affected its profits.

The maker of hot chocolate beverage suffered an 83% decline in profit to N172.67 million (US$422,000).

Cadbury’s profitability thrives on high volume and high revenue as FMCG profit margins are usually rather slim.

With a decrease in revenue without a more than proportionate decrease in cost of sales, pressured the company’s prospects of posting an impressive profit as that of last year which was N1.07 billion (US$2.6m).

The company’s cost of sales decreased to N29.64 billion (US$72.48m), down by 4.39% with selling and distribution expenses going down to N4.58 billion (US$11.2m) by 12.12% and administrative expenses decreasing to N1.18 billion (US$2.8m), down by 35.25%.

Cadbury Nigeria suffered a 83% decline in profit while Unilever Nigeria attained a 53% reduction in loss in 2020

Meanwhile, another consumer good company Unilever Nigeria Plc, released its audited report for the year ended 31st December 2020.

The company recorded turnover of N61.9 billion (US$151.3m) in the year under review which represents 2% topline growth, compared to N60.4bn (US$147.7m) turnover recorded in the corresponding year in 2019.

The result showed that the company recorded a gross profit of N12.8bn (US$31.3m) for the year ended 31st December 2020, this represented a 169% increase in gross profit relative to gross loss of N4.7bn (US$11.4m) reported for the previous year.

Overall, loss after tax for the year ended 31st December 2020 reduced by 53% to N4.0bn (US$9.78m) from the loss after tax of N7.4bn (US$18.09m) reported for the prior year in 2019.

Speaking on the results, the Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Business Director, ‘Soromidayo George, stated that even though 2020 was a year of significant disruptions and volatilities impacting the operating environment, Unilever Nigeria continues to build its resilience to navigate the impact of headwinds.

Mrs. George added that the company remains focused on its strategy to deliver sustainable growth both in the medium and long-term riding on the pillars of operational efficiency, cost optimization, purposeful brands and increasing market share across key categories.

“We continue to monitor the business environment and respond appropriately to volatilities in the operating environment as well as disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

Unilever Nigeria is in the process of establishing its tea business into a separate legal entity to help it achieve its potentials as a stand-alone business.

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