Unilever Nigeria Plc has announced an impressive financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, with pre-tax profit more than doubling compared to the same period last year.
The consumer goods giant recorded a pre-tax profit of ₦10.7 billion for the quarter ending March 31, representing a 146.67% increase from the ₦4.3 billion reported in Q1 2024.
The company’s quarterly financial statement revealed that total revenue reached ₦46.9 billion, a 45.37% increase from ₦32.3 billion in the corresponding period of 2024.
A breakdown of the revenue streams shows that Food Products emerged as the leading segment with ₦27.5 billion, while Personal Care generated ₦15.1 billion, and Beauty & Wellbeing contributed ₦4.3 billion.
Despite rising operational costs, with the cost of sales increasing to ₦28.1 billion from ₦18.8 billion year-on-year, the company still managed to grow its gross profit to ₦18.8 billion, up from ₦13.5 billion in Q1 2024.
The financial report also indicated that marketing and administrative expenses rose by 9.67% to ₦9 billion, compared to ₦8.2 billion in the previous year. However, this did not prevent Unilever from achieving a substantial 115.18% growth in operating profit, which stood at ₦8.2 billion versus ₦3.8 billion in Q1 2024.
Another highlight of the results was the significant reduction in finance costs, which dropped from ₦1.4 billion in Q1 2024 to just ₦172 million in the current quarter. Meanwhile, finance income increased by 32.80% to ₦2.6 billion, primarily due to interest earned from call deposits and bank accounts.
The balance sheet also showed positive trends, with total assets growing by 9.50% year-over-year to ₦155.09 billion, while retained earnings increased by 21.84% to ₦30.9 billion.
According to analysts, these results demonstrate Unilever Nigeria’s continued resilience and growth in the competitive consumer goods sector, despite the challenging economic environment in the country.
