Nigerian Breweries Plc posted a profit after tax of N38.06bn last year, as against N42.52bn in 2014.
The company, in its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015 filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said its pre-tax profit fell by 11.3 per cent to N54.51bn at the end of 2015.
Its revenue, however, rose to N293.91bn from N266bn at the end of the 2014 financial year.
The company said it would pay a total dividend of N4.80 per ordinary share of 50k each for the 2015 financial year
If approved by shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, the amount would be the highest dividend ever paid by the company in its 70-year history, the brewer said, in a statement on Thursday.
The company had earlier paid an interim dividend of N9.5bn that is, N1.20 per share. Thus, the final dividend will be N28. 5bn, that is N3.60 per share.
According to the statement, the proposed final dividend will be subject to deduction of withholding tax at the appropriate rate and will be payable on May 12, 2016, to all shareholders whose names appear on the company’s register of members at the close of business on March 2, 2016.
The company said the results were impacted by reduced consumer purchasing power and increased cost of doing business mainly due to inflation and devaluation.
It said this year would see a continuation of the tough operating environment of 2015, adding that barring any unforeseen circumstance, the board of directors remained confident that with the company’s strong portfolio and its cost leadership agenda, it should be able to take advantage of any upswing in the market.
Analyst at the FBNQuest, in their comments on the Nigerian Breweries’ financial results for the fourth quarter, said the decline in the PBT in the Q4 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline for the company.
“Further down the profit and loss account, PAT declined by a slimmer margin of six per cent y-o-y mainly because the tax expense fell by 18 per cent y-o-y, driven by a lower effective tax rate of 29.9 per cent versus 32.8 per cent in Q4 2014.
“However, given that the numbers for the Q3 2014 are pre-merger numbers and do not include those of Consolidated Breweries, these comparisons are not exactly like-for-like. Adjusting for the impact of the CB, sales and PAT declined by four per cent y-o-y and 15 per cent y-o-y, respectively.”