By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Nestle Nigeria Plc on Wednesday said its pretax profit for the period ended December 31, 2015 rose 21 percent to N29.32 billion from N24.44 billion recorded a year ago.

Similarly, profit after tax (PAT) grew seven (7) percent to N23.73 billion from N22.23 billion declared the same period of 2014.

Revenue of the food and beverage producer increased from N143.33 billion in 2014 end to N151.27 billion in the review period of 2015; indicating an increase of six (6) percent, Nestle said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Analysts at Cordros Capital say the fourth quarter was impressive. “Though revenue grew by a marginal 6.5 percent y/y, PBT and PAT both increased by 98.5 percent y/y and c.21 percent y/y respectively.

The report said aiding PBT growth in Q4 was a significant 79.8 percent y/y decline in finance charges, traceable to the reduction in total debt to N29.9 billion, from N39.3 billion as at September 30, 2015 (nine months).

It affirmed that earnings also got a boost from efficiency and cost savings, wherein cost of sales and opex margins both fell by 305bps y/y and 46bps y/y respectively.

“NESTLE continues to demonstrate resilience in the challenging and immensely competitive Nigerian FMCG landscape. We expect investors to react positively to the results,” Cordros added.

Meanwhile, the board of the FMCG firm has proposed a final dividend of N19.00, bringing total dividend for the year to N29.00 (having paid an interim of N10.00). “Yield on the final dividend is 2.8 percent (4.20 percent yield on total dividend),” the Cordros report affirmed.

Click here to download Nestle Nigeria Audited Report Ended December 31, 2015