BUSINESS

Unfavourable Business Climate: Shareholders’ Funds Wiped Out As PZ Cussons Nigeria Reports N96.4 Billion Losses In FY 2024

<h4>Unfavourable Business Climate<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that consumer goods company&comma; PZ Cussons Nigeria reported a net loss of N96&period;4 billion for the fiscal year ending May 31&comma; 2024&comma; according to information contained in its latest unaudited financial statements as obtained from Nairametrics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The losses led the company to post a negative equity of N47&period;2 billion at the end of the fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>PZ Cussons has been struggling with macroeconomic headwinds which has negatively affected its margins&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>High interest rates&comma; exchange rate depreciation and galloping inflation are some of the challenges faced by the company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>PZ Cussons Nigeria posted a revenue of N152&period;2 billion during the fiscal year&comma; representing a 33&period;5&percnt; growth from the N114 billion revenue generated in the previous fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The company also reported a gross profit of N60&period;6 billion&comma; representing an 84&percnt; increase from the N32&period;95 billion gross profit posted in the previous fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite achieving an impressive 40&percnt; gross margin during the fiscal year&comma; the group experienced a substantial exchange loss of N158 billion&comma; resulting in a negative operating margin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Consequently&comma; the group reported an operating loss of N111&period;5 billion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group posted a pre-tax loss of N109 billion&comma; a contrast from the N20&period;46 billion pre-tax profit posted at the end of the 2022&sol;2023 fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Due to its losses&comma; the group enjoyed a tax credit of N12&period;5 billion&comma; resulting in a net loss of N96&period;4 billion&comma; down from the N13&period;3 billion profit after tax posted in FYE 2022&sol;2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Key Highlights FY 2024 vs FY 2023<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Revenue&colon; N152&period;2 billion&comma; &plus;34&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Cost of sales&colon; N91&period;6 billion&comma; &plus;13&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Gross profit&colon; N60&period;6 billion&comma; &plus;84&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Administrative expenses&colon; N1&period;3 billion&comma; -84&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Exchange loss&colon; N158 billion&comma; &plus;3090&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Operating profit&sol;&lpar;loss&rpar;&colon; &lpar;N111&period;5 billion&rpar;&comma; -1456&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Net interest income&colon; N2&period;2 billion&comma; -55&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;&lpar;Loss&rpar;&sol;Profit before tax&colon; N109 billion&comma; -632&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;&lpar;Loss&rpar;&sol;Profit for the year&colon; N96&period;4 billion&comma; -772&percnt; YoY<br &sol;>&NewLine;Total assets&colon; N137&period;6 billion&comma; -17&percnt; YoY<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The net loss posted by the group at the end of the fiscal year led to a wiping out of its N34&period;5 billion retained earnings&comma; leading to retained losses of N53&period;6 billion at the end of the 2023&sol;2024 fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The retained losses accrued by the group have led to a negative equity of N47&period;2 billion&comma; even as the group looks to delist from the NGX&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the fiscal year&comma; the group’s net cash declined to N32&period;7 billion&comma; a 68&percnt; decline from the N101&period;6 billion as at FYE 2022&sol;2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The decline in cash and cash equivalents was due to an N87&period;3 billion negative cash flow generated from operating activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>PZ Cussons Nigeria’s borrowings from its parent company&comma; PZ Cussons &lpar;Holding&rpar; Limited&comma; surged to N59&period;8 billion by the end of the 2023&sol;2024 fiscal year&comma; up from N18&period;7 billion at the close of the previous year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This increase is attributed to a &dollar;40&period;26 million non-interest loan facility extended by the parent company to the Nigerian subsidiary in June 2022&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The FX revaluation adjustment resulted in an additional N41&period;1 billion increase to the original borrowed amount&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>PZ Cussons Nigeria delisting<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In September 2023&comma; the parent company announced its plan to buy out the remaining 26&period;73&percnt; shareholding of PZ Cussons Nigeria and delist the company from the NGX&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the time&comma; an offer price of N21 per unit was made to the minority shareholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; this price was rejected by certain shareholders who claimed such a price was unfair to them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In November&comma; the offer price was increased to N23&period; However&comma; in March 2024&comma; the Securities and Exchange Commission &lpar;SEC&rpar; declined PZ Cusson’s request to delist from the NGX&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A move which was applauded by some of the minority shareholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement released in March 2024&comma; the holding company&comma; PZ Cussons &lpar;Holding&rpar; Limited announced plans to review its Nigerian operations in order to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<em><strong>reduce risk and maximize shareholders value&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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