Despite severe foreign exchange and liquidity issues, Nigeria’s largest consumer goods manufacturers paid N33.92 billion in income tax in the first three months of 2023.
In the first quarter of 2023, consumer products companies paid N33.92 billion in income tax, up 3% from N32.93 billion in 2022.
Analyst Gbemisola Oni told BusinessDay that consumer products manufacturers are overcoming macroeconomic challenges to declare bumper earnings, allowing them to pay more taxes.
Nestle, BUA Foods, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Sugar, International Breweries, Cadbury Nigeria, Nascon, Champion Breweries, and Unilever were surveyed.
“They can do more if the government can eliminate impediments like currency devaluations, rising borrowing costs, red-hot inflation, and foreign exchange illiquidity weakened profit margins,” Oni said.
In the first quarter of 2023, Nigerian consumer goods firms struggled to make cash from their main business operations due to rising inflation, diminishing consumer purchasing power, and the devaluation of the naira, according to consumer goods analyst Temitope Ayeni.
“As a result, these enterprises have raised their overall borrowings to finance their working capital (a measure of a company’s liquidity and short-term financial health) needs to produce profits and pay taxes,” Ayeni said.
Nestle Nigeria, BUA Foods, and Nigerian Breweries paid the greatest income tax, respectively, at N8.69 billion, N8.66 billion, and N6.72 billion.
Dangote Sugar, International Breweries, Cadbury, Nascon, and Champion Breweries all paid income tax in the first quarter of 2023.
Nestle Nigeria
Nestle Nigeria paid the largest income tax in the first quarter of 2023, N8.69 billion, up 12% from N9.87 billion in 2022.
Revenue rose 16% to N127.97 billion from N110.23 billion.
Nestle Nigeria’s first-quarter profit after tax was N16.21 billion, down 10% from N17.98 billion in 2022.
BUA Foods
BUA Foods paid N8.66 billion in income tax in Q1 2023, down 2% from Q1 2022.
The company’s turnover rose 60.2% to N144.32 billion from N90.07 billion.
BUA Foods’ net profit after tax rose 77.2 per cent to N40.47 billion in the first quarter of 2023 from N22.84 billion in 2022.
Nigerian Breweries
In the first quarter of 2023, Nigerian Breweries paid N6.72 billion in income tax, down 6% from N7.15 billion in 2022.
Net revenue fell 10.5% to N123.31 billion from N137.77 billion.
Nigerian Breweries lost N10.72 billion in Q1 2023 compared to N13.61 billion in Q1 2022.
Dangote Sugar
Dangote Sugar paid N5.73 billion in income tax in the first quarter of 2023, up 21% from N4.73 billion in 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, revenue rose 8.2% to N102.22 billion from N94.45 billion in 2022.
Dangote Sugar’s annual earnings rose 44.3 per cent to N12.8 billion from N8.87 billion.
Global breweries
International Breweries’ first-quarter income tax was N1.81 billion, up 58.8% from N1.14 billion in 2022.
The company’s revenue fell 5.4 per cent to N54.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023 from N57.52 billion in 2022.
International Breweries lost N2.31 billion compared to N721.17 million in the corresponding periods.
Cadbury Nigeria
Cadbury Nigeria’s first-quarter income tax charge was N1.48 billion, up 124% from N0.66 billion in 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, revenue rose 29.5 per cent to N16.56 billion from N12.79 billion in 2022.
Cadbury Nigeria’s first-quarter profit was N3.45 billion, up 124% from N1.54 billion in 2022.
Nascon
Nascon’s first-quarter income tax expense rose to N0.79 billion from N0.18 billion in 2022.
The company earned N16.9 billion, up 57.1 per cent from N10.76 billion.
Nascon’s first-quarter profit after tax rose 324 per cent to N1.64 billion from N386.37 million in 2022.
Read: Minister establishes revenue group to address multiple taxations, others.
Champion Brewers
Champion Brewery paid N0.04 billion in income tax in the first quarter of 2023 compared to N0.23 billion in 2022.
However, its revenue fell 19% to N2.59 billion from N3.19 billion.
Champion Breweries lost N96.58 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared to N554.2 million in 2022.
Unilever
According to its financial statement, Unilever paid no income tax in the first quarter but N0.10 billion in 2022.
The first quarter of 2023 revenue was N24.61 billion, up 19.7% from N20.56 billion in 2022.
The firm’s first-quarter profit rose 48.3% to N2.67 billion from N1.8 billion in 2022.
