Peterside steps down as Cadbury chairman

TRACKING___Leading investment banker, Mr Atedo Peterside has stepped down as Chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc. He resigned on personal ground to pursue other interests.

Peterside led the food and beverage company through a period of steady recovery and growth, marking his last Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week with distribution of N912 million as cash dividends for the 2019 business year. Shareholders received 49 kobo dividend per share for the 2019 business year, up from 25 kobo for 2018.

Key extracts of the audited report for the year ended December 31, 2019 showed that total turnover rose from N35.97 billion in 2018 to N39.33 billion in 2019. Profit before tax also increased from N1.22 billion to N1.54 billion while profit after tax jumped from N823 million in 2018 to N1.07 billion in 2019.

Also, the company showed resilient bottom-line performance in first quarter 2020, despite eight per cent decline in sales.

Key extracts of the interim report and accounts for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 showed that net profit rose by 26 per cent to N638.94 million in first quarter 2020 as against N506.75 million recorded in comparable period of 2019.

Earnings per share thus increased by 26 per cent from 26.98 kobo in first quarter 2019 to 34.02 kobo in first quarter 2020. Profit before tax had risen by 26 per cent from N723.93 million to N912.77 million. Turnover however declined by eight per cent from N9.28 billion in first quarter 2019 to N8.55 billion in first quarter of 2020.