Speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting, Mr Edward Effah, the Board Chairman of Unilever Ghana Limited, said government’s fiscal consolidation policies were largely on target, leading to stabilisation of the economy after the difficult economic challenges in 2016.

This resulted in attracting investment into the economy, which accounted for the growth experienced during the year.  The company’s results for the year ended 31 December, 2017 showed a revenue growth of 16 per cent from GH¢496 million in 2016 to GH¢575 million in 2017, driven by increased volumes of sales.

Operating profit before tax was GH¢65.3 million, representing 22 per cent increase over 2016’s GH¢53.5 million. Profit-after-tax, therefore, improved by 23.3 per cent to GH¢48.1 million compared to GH¢39.05m in 2016.

However, operating costs during the period increased by 15 per cent driven by an increase in cost of materials.  Ziobeieton Yeo, the Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, said financial results for the year showed a good improvement compared with the 2016 performance.

He said Unilever Ghana would leverage the good economic fundamentals to further grow the business, widen its distribution network and introduce more products.  At the end of 2017, he said, Unilever was able to add 4,000 new outlets and would embark on a journey to ensure that the products were distributed widely.

“Investment of more than GH¢21 million was undertaken in multiple areas:   

Laundry bar factory upgrade to cope with the increased sales; plant condensers and efficient dryers; commissioning of Blue Band packaging line and the new powders packing line for Omo and Sunlight.”

Shareholders approved a dividend pay-out of GH¢0.25 per share from the 2017 profits, amounting to a total of GH¢15.625 million.