Nestlé S.A, has acquired 29,770 additional shares in its Nigerian subsidiary, Nestlé Nigeria Plc worth N41,678,000.00.
Brand Spur Nigeria gathered that the acquisition was undertaken on May 7.
Previously, the consumer giant acquired more shares in the last one year. You can check more detail of shareholding transactions here.
A look at Nestle Nigeria Financials in 2020
Although Nestle reported an increase in top-line, its bottom-line took a beating due to high financing cost, the high inflationary pressure, increased excise duty, value-added tax, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Net financing cost soared by 302 per cent from N938 million to N3.78 billion. The increase in finance cost was primarily due to a multi-fold increase in foreign exchange losses to N1.7 billion from N37.3 million in 19.
Consequently, profit before tax fell from N71.124 billion to N60.638 billion, while profit after tax printed at N39.212 billion, compared with N45.683 billion in 2019.
Food segment profit slipped 15.8 per cent to N39.6 billion, while beverage segment profit edged 0.8 per cent lower to N24.8 billion in 2020,”
Nestle Nigeria Plc also decided to dip its hands into its retained profit to pay shareholders a higher dividend for the year ended December 31, 2020.
The move is in order to maintain its robust dividend policy.
Nestle Nigeria Plc is well known for rewarding shareholders with a good dividend. Although the company’s profit fell 14 per cent from N45.683 billion to N39.212 billion, it has recommended a higher dividend payment ratio.
The directors recommend the payment of a final dividend of N35.50 per share having earlier declared an interim dividend of N25, to bring the total dividend to N60.50. The dividend payout amounted to N47.95 billion, which is higher than the N39.212 billion profit recorded in 2020.
The proposed final dividend of N35.50 comprise N24.50 from the after-tax profit for the year ended 31 December 2020, and N5.00 and N6 from the after-tax retained earnings of the years ended 31 December 2019 and 2018, respectively.
