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Nestle Nigeria Plc, the six most capitalised firms in the country, has been consistently paying dividends to its shareholders even amid macroeconomic headwinds, which validates the financial strength of the company.
In short, investors have confidence in the consumer goods firm’s growth prospect and they have never doubted its earnings generation capabilities.
From 2012 to 2022, Nestle Nigeria has paid N388.15 billion (both interim and final dividend) out of distributable to shareholders, according to MoneyCentral calculations.
A breakdown of the figure shows it paid N48.74 billion, which comprises N25 interim and N36.50k final dividends, in 2022. That compares with 2021 when owners got N40.02 billion.
The highest distribution was in 2019 with N55.48 billion payouts, (interim N20 and final N38.50k, as the consumer goods firm enjoyed a product price hike carried out so as to pass on rising input costs to consumers).
However, the payout of N7.92 billion in 2016 was the lowest in the 10-year period as a precipitous drop in price of crude oil that tipped the country into its recession in 25 years stoked foreign scarcity and inflation that squeezed consumer spending.
Nestle Nigeria has dividend yield of 5.61 percent, while its shares trade at 17.55 price to earnings multiple as it has a market capitalisation of N827.37 billion as of May 18, 2023.