UAC of Nigeria Plc last week published its unaudited results for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 December 2020.
The group reported a turnover of N81.594 billion, up by 3.02% from N79.202 billion reported in 2019.
Profit after tax grew significantly to N4.328 billion from the loss of N9.256 billion declared in 2019.
Earnings per share increased to N1.50 from a negative EPS of N3.2 in 2019.
At the share price of N8.75, the P.E ratio of UACN stands at 5.83x with earnings yield of 17.17%
Commenting on the performance, Group Managing Director, Fola Aiyesimoju, stated:
“FY 2020 was challenging, with operational disruptions related to COVID-19 and ENDSARS protests. I thank my colleagues across the Group for their courage, sacrifice, and dedication in navigating complexity. We focused on executing our strategy, implementing initiatives relating to UPDC, significantly reducing leverage and increasing cash, strengthening management, and driving profitability. Operating performance for the year was negatively impacted by aforementioned disruptions, as well as, input cost escalation. Our efforts resulted in net income of N4.3 billion in 2020. We benefited from N1.2 billion in nonrecurring gains from investments in associates, MDS Logistics Limited (“MDS Logistics”) and UACN Property Development Company PLC (“UPDC”).
In the fourth quarter, our businesses rebounded and profit after tax increased 136% to N2.4 billion (N1.4 billion, adjusting for non-recurring items) from N1.0 billion in 2019, supported by cost management initiatives that reduced operating expenses by N1.4 billion (30%). In December 2020, UAC received 649 million units of UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (“UPDC REIT”), valued at N3.6 billion as part of the partial exit from UPDC. This is in addition to the N6.6 billion received in H2 2020 for the sale of a 51% stake in UPDC.”