Presco Declares N10 as Interim Dividend on Weak Earnings Performance
Presco Plc has declared an N10 interim dividend per share for the first half of the financial year 2026 amidst weaker earnings performance for the period.
In the stock market, the company’s share price closed flat at N2,070 as earnings and dividend announcements diluted investors’ sentiment.
The company reported a 7.3% year-on-year decline in Profit After Tax (PAT) to N82.3 billion, underpinned by muted revenue growth, elevated operating costs and a higher effective tax rate.
Earnings Per Share (EPS), however, reported a steeper decline of 20.5% YoY to N70.52 due to a greater weighted average number of shares in H1’26.
Details from its unaudited financials revealed that revenue came in flattish at N198.8 billion in H1 2026, compared with N198.7 billion in the prior period.
The topline performance reflected a decline in Ghana’s market where revenue slipped by 34.7% to N34.1 billion, offsetting the 12.4% growth in the Nigerian market.
Presco’s cost of sales rose modestly by 5.5% year on year to N32.9 billion, due to higher production and depreciation costs. This translated to a 0.9ppts decline in gross margin to 83.4%, CardinalStone Securities Limited said.
Elsewhere, the company recorded a 16.5% year-on-year increase in operating expenses to N42.8 billion, owing to a 74% increase in selling and distribution and a staff cost increase of +14.5%.
Supporting the bottom line, other operating income jumped to N5.3 billion from N3.2 billion, driven by higher miscellaneous operating income.
The company reported that its net finance costs declined markedly by 76.3% year on year to N4.3 billion from N17.9 billion in the equivalent period in 2025.
Analysts said this was driven by a 32% decline in finance costs, on account of substantial deleveraging, and a 482% surge in finance income, on the back of robust cash balances from income on fixed deposits for the period.
Presco’s effective tax rate jumped by 12 percentage points to 32.7%, resulting in a 7.3% decline in net income to N82.3 billion.
The company’s profit after tax margin compressed by 3.2 percentage points to 41.4%. EPS settled at N70.52 from N88.72 in the equivalent period in 2025.
The company proposed an interim Dividend per Share (DPS) of N10.00 per share, representing a payout ratio of 14.2% on H1 2026 earnings per share, CardinalStone Securities Limited said.
