Swiss Multinational Now Owns 66.77% of Nestlé Nigeria
A Swiss multinational, Nestlé S.A, the parent company of Nestlé Nigeria Plc has raised its shareholding to 66.77% after it acquired additional 2,166,647 shares.
This information was contained in a notification of share dealing by an insider, issued by the leading consumer goods company in compliance with the Nigerian Stock Exchange policy.
The share purchase transaction was consummated at an average price of N1, 349 on the local bourse.
This insider transaction by the Swiss multinational summed up to N2.92 billion as the company is expected to receive final dividend payment of about N19 billion.
In its audited report for 2020, Nestlé Nigeria had reported the Swiss multinational as the largest shareholders with 527,080,970 ordinary shares (representing 66.50%) and Stanbic IBTC Nominees Limited with 6.28%.
The report said no other shareholder held 5% or more of the paid-up capital of the Company as at 31 December 2020.
“We hereby confirm that the free float of the Company is in compliance with The Nigerian Stock Exchange’s free float requirements of the Main Board on which Nestle Nigeria Plc is listed”, the report stated.
However, analysts believe the purchase of the shares of Nestle Nigeria further cements Nestle S.A’s position as the majority shareholder of the company.
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Nestlé Nigeria shares at the close of trade today are presently valued at N1350 per share.
The share price of the company is down -10.32%, having lost N100 per share in the last 7-day trading sessions.
In 2020, Nestlé Nigeria reported earnings per share (EPS) of N49.47 having plunged by 14.2% year on year. Chapel Hill Denham said the reported EPS came behind its estimate of N54.26 by -8.8%.
Analysts attributed the earnings miss to a higher than anticipated increase in cost of sales and finance cost.
Nestlé proposed a final dividend of N35.50 which remains subject to shareholders’ approval, thus implies a dividend yield of 2.45% lower than the final dividend yield of 3.10% for 2020
Swiss Multinational Now Owns 66.77% of Nestlé Nigeria
