Unilever Nigeria, a leading nutrition, hygiene and personal care company, reported stronger-than-expected fourth quarter (Q4) financial results for 2022 as the company made a series of adjustments to key areas.

Revenue grew by 14.88% to N23.952 billion from N20.850 billion recorded in Q4 2021. Cost of sales moderated by 30.51% to N9.652 billion, down from N13.890 billion spent on sales in Q4 2021.

Similarly, gross profit increased by 105.47% from N6.959 billion reported in Q4 2021 to N14.301 billion in the quarter under review.

Impairment loss on trade and intercompany receivables also declined to N3.596 million, a 97.69% decrease when compared to N156.264 million achieved in Q4 2021.

The company disclosed this in its unaudited financial statement released on Tuesday and obtained by Investors King.

Operating profit stood at N8.034 billion in the quarter, up from N2.319 billion posted in the same quarter of 2021.

Profit after tax for the quarter grew by 310% from N1.546 billion to N6.341 billion.

However, a critical analysis of the entire 2022 financial statement shows that despite the strong Q4 result, weak Q1, Q2 and not-so-good Q3 dragged on the company’s overall performance in the year.

Cost of sales rose by 14.12% to N57.238 billion from N50.162 billion in 2021, against the decline recorded in the fourth quarter.

Marketing and administrative expenses grew to N18.282 billion, an increase of 20.90% from N15.121 billion in 2021.

Profit after tax increased by 75.77% to N5.993 billion from N3.409 billion.

MTN Nigeria has announced the execution of its incentive shares to qualified shareholders following its January 2022 sales.

In January 2022, MTN Nigeria sold 575 million ordinary shares held by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited to Nigerians with one ordinary share for every twenty ordinary shares purchased term. However, due to the surge in demand, the telecommunications company ended up allotting 661.3 million shares to investors.

In a statement signed by Uto Ukpanah, the Company Secretary, MTN Nigeria Communications, the incentive was capped at 250 ordinary shares.

He noted that eligible shareholders must hold a portion or all of the shares allotted to them from the offer as of 31 January, 2023 (the qualification date) subject to holding a minimum of 20 ordinary shares.

According to him, shareholders must have their names appear in the company’s register of members on the qualification date.

“Qualified shareholders will have their incentive shares credited to their CSCS accounts after the qualification date and obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals,” the document sighted on NGX said.

The offer saw 114,938 new CSCS accounts opened for representing new market participants, with roughly 76 per cent of successful applicants via digital platforms being women and 85 per cent below the age of 40.

Despite growing global and domestic uncertainties ahead of Nigeria’s general elections, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) grew by 0.16% last week.

Investors in the Nigerian stock market transacted 1.241 billion shares worth N15.668 billion in 18,560 deals during the week, against a total of 1.286 billion shares valued at N29.634 billion that exchanged hands in 19,816 deals in the previous week.

Breaking down each of the sectors, Investors King discovered that the financial services industry led the activity chart with 1.010 billion shares valued at N5.924 billion traded in 9,165 deals. Therefore, contributing 81.37% and 37.81% to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The conglomerates industry followed with 46.761 million shares worth N112.918 million in 641 deals. In third place was the consumer goods industry, with a turnover of 42.121 million shares worth N2.134 billion in 2,886 deals.

Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc were the three most traded equities during the week. The three accounted for 605.879 million shares worth N2.120 billion exchanged in 1,631 deals and contributed 48.82% and 13.53% to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The market value of all listed equities grew by 0.16% to close the week at N28.647 trillion while the NGG All-Share Index appreciated by the same 0.16% to close the week at 52,594.68 index points.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX AFR Div. Yield, NGX MERI Value, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Industrial Goods, NGX Insurance and NGX Growth indices which depreciated by 1.17%, 1.18%, 2.60%, 0.64%, 2.66%, 2.05%, 2.34%, 0.40% and 1.06% respectively, while the NGX ASeM and NGX Sovereign Bond indices closed flat.

Thirty-nine equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than fifty-one equities in the previous week. Thirty equities depreciated in price higher than twenty-seven in the previous week, while eighty-eight equities remained unchanged, higher than seventy-nine equities recorded in the previous week.

The Exchange year-to-date returns grew to 2.62% last week. See other details below.