NIGERIA – Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V, has increased its stake at its Nigerian subsidiary- Unilever Nigeria Plc- through the acquisition 17 million additional shares, Nairametrics has reported.
Prior to the acquisition of additional share, Unilever was already the single largest investor in the company controlling a colossal 70% of the company’s total shareholding.
The latest acquisition thus substantially increases Unilever Overseas’ investment in the Nigerian subsidiary.
Analysis of this current acquisition shows that Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V. increased its stake in the firm with the purchase of 17,023,490 ordinary shares at a total cost of US$0.54 million.
Unilever Nigeria is listed at the Nigerian Stock Exchanged and is estimated to have a total market capitalization of US$188 million.
Insider purchases such as the one conducted by Unilever, are usually an indication of how shareholders perceive the company’s valuation.
It could also mean possible capital raise towards the strengthening of their existing holdings and some other things.
Earlier, Heineken, the majority shareholder in Nigerian Breweries, effected a similar move in its Nigerian subsidiary after increasing its shareholding by an additional 274, 542 shares.
Heineken, according to information obtained from Nigeria Stock Exchange insider disclosures, bought the shares at an average price of N35.67.
Unilever Nigeria Plc, which specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of food and care products, has been experiencing some turbulent times.
In its recently released half-year unaudited financial result for 2020, its revenue dropped to N14 billion as against the N23.4 billion that was recorded for the corresponding period in 2019.
The firm made a loss of N1.63 billion for the half-year 2020 as against a profit of N1.9 billion for the corresponding period in 2019.
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