The shareholders of Unilever Nigeria Plc. have approved a total dividend payout of N2.853 billion, at 50 kobo, per share for the financial year ended December 31, 2021.
The company also declared a turnover of N70.5 billion during the year under review, 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 showed 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 35 per cent to N70.5 billion from N52.2 billion the previous year.
Profit before tax from its continuing operations was N1.9 billion, compared to a loss of N4.5 billion 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.
Speaking to shareholders at the 97th annual general meeting (AGM) 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, the managing director of Unilever Nigeria, Mr. Carl Cruz, 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.
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, resulted in better operational discipline and governance of the business in 2021. We prioritized 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 five per cent. The bottom line grew by N7.4 billion from a loss of N4.0 billion in 2020. Our active management of cost inflation benefited our P&L by 800bps improvement on gross margin. Cash managed properly such that we are declaring dividends after two years at 50 kobo per share. Cash generated in the year at N18.8 billion from N1.2 billion in 2020,” he added.
Unilever Nigeria stated that it will continue to monitor the business environment and respond appropriately to the challenges with a view to providing solutions through its brands and operations