Seven‐Up Bottling Company reports 53% decline in profit

With marginal growth in revenue, Seven‐Up Bottling Company plc has announced 53 per cent decline in profit for the period ended March31, 2016.

The company’s profit dropped from N7.1 billion in 2015 to N3.3 billion recorded in 2016 while profit before tax also slump by 53 per cent to N3.8 billion from N8.7 billion in 2015.

Revenue stood at N85.6billion in 2016 as against N82.42 billion in 2015, representing a marginal growth of four per cent. Two major financial parameters, Finance costs and Cost of sales impinged profitability of Seven‐Up Bottling Company in the year under review.

Cost of sales rose by nearly 17 per cent to N60.6 billion from N52 billion in prior year results while Finance costs increased significantly by 32 per cent from N2.4 million to N3.2 million in 2016.

The management of Seven‐Up Bottling Company proposed a dividend of N1.60, 42 per cent below N2.75 approved by shareholders in 2015, the company said in a filing to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Despite weak profitability, total asset inched up by 0.2 per cent to N67.8 billion in 2016 from N67.7 billion in 2015.

Seven‐Up Bottling Company bottles PepsiCola, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, and AquaFina in addition to its namesake brand. It operates in more than nine bottling facilities and over 200 distribution centers across the country.