PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, makers of a wide range consumer goods, including Nutritionals such as Nuhu and Olympic milk brands on Thursday reported a net loss of N289m in its half-year results (June – Nov 2016). In the same period a year ago, the company recorded N780m in profit.

The company blamed the loss on unrealized foreign exchange loss of N4.9bn mostly incurred in the first quarter (June – Aug 2016) when the Central Bank of Nigeria allowed the naira to float leading to a significant loss of the currency’s value by as much as 40%.

Net income in the second quarter (Sept – Nov) was N1.3bn compared to -N1.6bn loss in the first quarter. If it had not been for the foreign exchange loss in the first quarter, half-year profit would have been positive.

Second quarter revenue climbed 5.6%, while half-year sales dipped 9.44% as a result of relative price increases the company was forced to implement. PZ Cussons Nigeria’s British parent notes that the Nigerian consumer remains under significant inflationary pressure as prices of most staple goods have gone up in cost in the last twelve months.

“Successive changes to relative pricing over the past twelve months have been necessary to mitigate these higher costs resulting in lower volumes being sold at higher prices,” the company said.

However, it said that all of its business units, including food and nutrition performed relatively well in the challenging trading environment with market shares either held or grown, although volumes in all categories are lower as a result of changes to relative pricing.

This article was recently updated on January 30, 2017 at 9:00pm