PZ Cussons, a leading blue chip company in Nigeria, has refuted social media rumours of its impending exit from the Nigerian market.
Tahir Mohammed, the company’s spokesman, in a statement, said the company has no immediate plans to do so
“We are not leaving Nigeria. You have witnessed our investments across the country, so it is not true that we plan to divest from the country.”, he said
Nigeria is PZ Cusson’s largest and most diverse single market, operating in personal care, home care, food and nutrition and electricals. The company has been in Nigeria for over 100 years and employs over 3500 people working across its extensive networ
k.
On Wednesday, social media platforms were awash with the news that PZ Cussons, one of the most popular conglomerates in Nigeria, was packing up.
The news was given credence after a national daily published a report with the title “Nigeria PZ Cussons to Withdraw amid Tough Conditions”.
The Leadership newspaper report was based on PZ Couson’s half-year report published on the London Stock Exchange website on January 29.
In it, PZ made specific comments about the state of its affairs in the Nigerian market, most of which were not positive. It made a reference to the weak consumer disposable income as having a huge impact on its operations.
Apart from that, the report indicated that a weakening Naira and the forex regime were also unkind to its Nigerian businesses.
“The negative currency impact was caused by both the move to use the NIFEX exchange rate rather than the CBN rate to translate Nigerian results from 1 June 2018 (as indicated in the Group’s full-year results to 31 May 2018), as well as an underlying weakening of the Naira during the period.”
“The macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria remain extremely challenging and continue to have a significant negative impact on overall Group performance,” the chairman of PZ Group Caroline Silver said.
“Reflecting this, we now expect Group adjusted profit before tax for the year to be towards £70 million.”
Although Silver said the Group would streamline its activities in the country and “limit exposure to volatility in Nigeria, with more information to be provided in due course,” she maintained, in the same report, that PZ will maintain “strong market shares” in the areas it is doing well.
Silver also said in the report that the company would maintain its presence in Nigeria
“Whilst these conditions prevail, we will maintain our strong market shares in key product categories in Nigeria until growth returns to the market”, she said.
