How Easing Of Lockdown Boosts Profitability Of Industrial, Consumer Firms By 14.9% To N145.2bn

Months after Nigeria re-opened its economy, the different sectors are still struggling to recover from the impact of the Covid- 19 induced lock down, with major companies in different sectors ranging from industrial goods, consumer goods, healthcare hospitality and insurance recording an aggregate of 14.9 per cent increease in profit to N145.2bn in the third quarter of this year.

The result comes with the aid of government stimulus coupled with both fiscal and monetary interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria and tax authorities.

Analysis by THE WHISTLER of 23 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock exchange revealed that 17 of them posted an aggregate profit of N126.4bn in the second quarter, while six of the companies recorded losses amounting to N4.66bn in the same quarter.

With the re-opening of the economy and massive injection of about N2.2trn fiscal package by the Central , the third quarter result of the companies showed an aggregate rise in profit by N18.9bn to N145.2bn.

Following the spill over effect of the pandemic during the third quarter, nine companies recorded losses amounting to N9.34bn, while 14 companies recorded N145.2bn profit in the third quarter.

THE WHISTLER arrived at the figures from the company’s financial statements for the second and third quarter posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange official site.

The most profitable sector during the period was the industrial goods sector with the five major listed companies in the sector pulling N106.23bn, up from the N95.9bn recorded in the second quarter.

Dangote Cement led the sector with N82.54bn recorded in the third quarter, up from the N65.55bn recorded in the second quarter while BUA Cement witnessed a surge in profit to N18.75bn from the N14.9bn recorded in the second quarter.

Largage saw a shrink in profit from the N15.3bn to N4.86m, CAP PLC recorded a surge in profit in the third quarter to N320.176m, from the N151.1m recorded in second quarter, while Berger Paint grew profit to N70.05m from the N61.2m recorded in the second quarter.

The Consumer Goods sector also witnessed aggregate growth as five companies analysed recorded N31.47bn in the third quarter up from the N29.9bn recorded in the second quarter.

Dangote Sugar Group led the sector with a third quarter profit of N15.05bn, up from the N5.2bn recorded in the second quarter, while Nigerian Breweries Plc recorded profit of N1.35bn up from the N83.9m in the second quarter.

However, Nestle Nigerian Plc recorded a decline in profit from the N10.6bn in the second quarter down to N10.11bn in the third quarter.

Also, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc saw its profit dropped to N4.96bn, from the N4.97bn recorded in the second quarter, while Unilever Nigeria lost N1.54bn, down from the N1.63bn recorded in the second quarter.

In the NSE Financial Service sector, the Insurance sub-sector saw its six major players realising N8.64bn up from the N6.4bn recorded in the second quarter, representing a slow recovery from the impact of the pandemic on the sector.

AIICO Insurance Plc saw a rise in profit in the third quarter to N3.23bn from the N2.8bn recorded in the second quarter, while AXA Mansard Insurance profit rose to N2.1bn, from the N1.65bn posted in the Q2 of 2020.

On the other hand, Custodian and Allied Insurance witnessed a decline in profit from the N2.7bn recorded in the second quarter to N1.5bn in the third quarter.

African Alliance Insurance Plc recorded a N3.2bn loss, down from the N507.6m recorded as profit in the Q2, while Nem Insurance Plc recorded a loss amounting to N446.6m, down from the N505m recorded in the second quarter of 2020.