Good H1 for shareholders of Union Bank, Zenith Bank, Dangote Flour, Champion Breweries, but not so for Julius Berger

Nigeria’s half year earnings season got on the way Thursday with a deluge of companies announcing their audited and unaudited earnings for the 2017 financial year to June.

Five companies monitored for this report showed a mixed bag of numbers, but in terms of half year profit only Julius Berger reported a loss while Zentih Bank, Union Bank, Dangote Flour, Champion Breweries reported numbers that would keep their shareholders happy.

Julius Berger posted a loss of N365 million in the first half of the year against a profit of N136 million recorded for the comparable period of 2016. The loss was made on revenues of N62.73 billion which was up from N47.84 billion recorded in 2016.

Champion Breweries, the Onitsha based alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage maker reported profit of N86 million for the six months to June 2017, up 9% on the N79 million recorded for the same period in 2016. The profit was generated on revenues of N2.29 billion for the period, up 30% on the N1.83 billion made in the first half of 2016.

Flour miller, Dangote Flour Mills, reported an impressive performance that should keep the shareholders of the company looking to the end of the year with a lot of expectations, particularly by way of dividend payment.

The company recorded a 145 percent growth in revenues for the first six months to June posting N64.86 billion as against N26.45 billion recorded for the same period in 2016. Its profit was also up significantly as it recorded 463 percent growth at N5.75 billion from just N1.02 billion in the same period in 2016.

Union Bank, one of the country’s oldest banks announced profits of N9.5 billion for the six months to June 2017, up from 6% from N8.9 billion. Earnings were also up 23% to N73.7 billion, from N60.1 billion in half year 2016.

Exact numbers for Zenith were still being awaited and will be updated as they become available. However, it is clear that shareholders are up for cheery news as the bank board, meeting Wednesday, considered and approved the half year results and the payment of an interim dividend, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.