Unilever Grows Revenue by 26% to N81.57bn in 9 Months

Consumer goods manufacturer, Unilever Nigeria Plc, grew its revenue by 25.95 per cent to N81.576bn in the period ending September 30, from N64.768bn recorded within the same period in 2022.

This was revealed in the unaudited interim financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Friday.

In the period under review, the group also returned a profit of N1.669bn from a loss of N348m as September 30, 2022.

This was driven by an increase in its net finance income which rose to N3.179bn from a loss of N70m in 2022.

However, for the third quarter, the consumer goods company moderated its losses by 51.60 per cent to N1.091bn from N2.254bn recorded in the same period in 2022.

Its revenue for the three months rose by 30.57 per cent to N27.371bn from N20.962bn in the same period in 2022.

During Q3, finance cost rose significantly by 215 per cent to N1.034bn from N328m in Q3, 2022, thus driving the downward trend which was worsened by a tax of N1.481bn.

On March 17, Unilever Nigeria Plc announced plans to exit the home care and skin cleansing category. In an update in its report, the manufacturer said that the production for the home care category ceased in June and sales ceased in September, while the production and sale for the skin cleansing category has been extended to December 2023.

The affected products include Vaseline, Omo, Lux, Dove, Lifebuoy, and Rexona.

The group said that discontinuation was part of moves to change its business model to accelerate its growth and meet the needs of consumers, shareholders, and employees better.

“This will involve repurposing the portfolio by exiting the home care and skin cleansing categories to concentrate on higher growth opportunities.

Strengthening business operations with measures to digitise and simplify processes; and focusing more on business continuity measures that reduce exposure to devaluation and currency liquidity in our business model,” part of the March statement read.

The group added that its exit of these two categories in 2023 was envisaged to result in overall improvement in profitability, growth and a more sustainable business.