PZ Cussons, a consumer products group, on Thursday, blamed the decline in its group’s operating profits for the half year to November 30 on the difficult business environment in Nigeria.
In its trading update, the company said that a strong performance in Europe offset a difficult trading environment in Nigeria and the impact of weaker currencies, according to Reuters.
The company also predicted that performance in certain categories in Nigeria in second half was likely to continue to be affected by ongoing squeeze on consumer disposable income.
PZ Cussons, being a consumer goods company, is very much exposed to weakness in the purchasing power of a lot of Nigerians. Another problem it has had is the insurgency in the North, which has badly hurt growth from that part of the country.
The company began the new financial year in red as the Q1 2016 (ended August 2015) performance results showed a 37.32 per cent decline in profit before tax from N872.291 million the previous year to N546.792 million during the period under review.
The profit after tax stood at N427.851 million during the first quarter as against N641.698 million posted a year earlier, representing a drop of 33.33 per cent. The company’s revenue also dropped by 0.44 per cent to N14.953 billion as against N15.049 billion reported the previous year
