HENATES

Today any one seeking the services of Bureau De Change in Nigeria will almost be wasting his time looking beyond Lagos, Abuja and Kano. In those other places, they are like pin in a heap of sand. According to the full list of approved BDCs released by the Central Bank of Nigeria early this month, there are now 2998 of them across the country. Of this number, about 1584 or 52.8% are based in or with registered office in Lagos state. Kano comes next from a distance with about 21.4% or some 643 BDCs based there or having registered address there The next place to look is Abuja, the federal capital territory  It is home to about 17% or 510 of the BDCs currently officially approved. In other words, between Lagos, Kano and Abuja, about 91.2% of the BDCs can be found and the rest of the nation have less than 10%. Amongst the lot making do with less than 10% , some states like Anambra, and Abia played host to a fair share. Yet, the present list must have been probed down consider...

Reading or hearing about internally generated revenue by state governments in Nigeria could give the wrong impression about more being reward for official effort or strategy. From the look of things, it is more a matter of how many workers are resident in your state. According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the bulk of today's IGR by most states is made up of pay as you earn (PAYE) deducted at source and paid to government. The only effort needed is to ensure it is paid to schedule. Hence states like Lagos where majority of Nigerian workers reside for ease of resumption at work places daily, IGR tops the lot across the country. Yet, says the NBS, by 2015 PAYE made up 65.4% of Lagos state IGR with direct assessment chipping in only 3.43% in addition to 3.55% from road taxes. Lagos was not alone. Among the top ten IGR harvesters in 2015 as analysed by Henates in a post yesterday, May 30, Rivers, Oyo, Ogun, Anambra,  and Kano did not have breakdown of...

NESTLÉ NIGERIA PLC: STRONG START. The first quarter of the current year turned to be one with very strong foundation that could help Nestle Nigeria end it with very good memories despite the tough times in Nigeria now. According to figures for the quarter, revenue grew strong enough at 31.1% up to N36130.9m from N27556.4m and better still cost of sale ended up increasing by only 19.4% to N18350.4m. This resulted in far more healthy 45.9% increase in gross profit to N17780.5m. But that was just a part of the quarter's baggage of good news. Oh sure, overhead ended up growing ahead of revenue growth at 33.9% to N8754.9m, but as finance cost decreased by 86.1% to N300.2m from N2159.7m, great leap in profit before tax was inevitable. The profit recorded was N8725.4m more than double N3487m in 2014. Management attributed this to the continued strength of its brands at the market place, drop in net finance costs and internal cost control. Of course, for any business, there...

The total internally generated revenue of the 36 states of Nigeria dropped by 3.56% in 2015, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of statistics (NBS). According to the figures released recently, the total generated by the states was N682,673.5m in 2015 compared to N707,858m in 2014. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, only 10 recorded increase in IGR in 2015. Out of them, six reported double digit growth while others struggled with single digit. Top of the lot in terms of growth was Ogun state which almost doubled its IGR in 2015, rising by 97.72% to N34596.4m from N17497.6m previously. However, it was surely a superlative, lone ranging performance by Ogun state because Anambra state recorded the second highest growth from a very long distance. Its IGR for the year came to N14703.1m, up 41.48 % on 2014's N10,454.6m. On the other hand, the IGR of Borno state increased by 27.9% to N3530.3m from N2760.8m to place third. The other three states with double digit ...

UNITY BANK PLC: A YEAR TO FORGET. For Unity bank PLC, financial year 2015 was a year better to forget. According to the full year figures released not too long ago, it was of drops when increase would have better and increases when drops were more appropriate. There were some exceptions though. At least fee and commission income increased by 4.94% to N9251.7m ; loss through fair valuation of financial instruments dived from N280.1m in 2014 to N20.9m and net trading income closed 84.8% up at N2688.6m. But none of these could effectively neutralise very marginal 0.12% increase in interest income to N62711.2m accompanied by 14.2% increase in interest expense to N19619.2m Not to talk of 56.1% increase in impairment provision to N27122.2m, 5.65% rise in other operating expenses to N13076.1m and 3.68% increase in personnel cost to N14395.5m. Hence from a marginal 1.91% increase in gross earnings to N78826.9m, Unity bank ended with 82.8% decline in profit before tax to N2342.7m ...

FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC: ONE LEGGED BATTLE Fidson Healthcare PLC apparently fought market place battle in the quarter to March and ended standing on only one good leg: Income from other sources other than core business . According to unaudited figures for the period, very healthy leap in Other income from N1.18m in 2015 first quarter to N15.3m had single handedly reversed 0.94% decrease in core revenue to N1217.4m to 0.21% increase in total income to N1232.7m. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the lone really good news within the quarter. First, instead of decreasing even if as marginally like core revenue, cost of sale rose by 0.81% to N570.4m Then overheads increased by 2.6% to N462.4m  and finance charges gained 3.68% to N157.9m. In the end. Fidson Healthcare stayed out of the loss league, no doubt, but with 31.6% drop in profit before tax to N41.9m from the marginal growth in total income. In other words, gain on each N100 income came to N3.4 compared to N5.0 by Ma...

DIAMOND BANK: STILL TOUGH GOING. It appears like financial year 2016 will be tough going for Diamond Bank PLC if its first quarter figures are anything to go by. According to the unaudited figures, only three developments worked in the banks favour within the quarter while all else applied downward pressure on its fortunes. The three factors were that it was able to drive other operating costs and personnel expenses down by 4.64% and 1.92% respectively at a time estimated gross earnings grew by marginal 1.77% to N52465.7 from N51554.4m and that net trading chipped in N5994.3m compared to loss of N17m in the first quarter of 2015. All three only managed to keep Diamond bank within double digit profit margin range at 12.8%, down on 16.2% previously. This was because the pressure from other factors was too much to roll back fully. First, Diamond bank increased impairment provision by 36.3% to N8812.3m and income from non banking declined by 91.6% to N154m. For another, a lea...

Once again, the Naira, after months of being rationed at controlled exchange rates, is to be sold and bought at the open market although with two major question marks still looming large above it. The first question mark has to do with apparent unpreparedness of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the change of direction before the announcement on Monday after the monthly monetary policy meeting of the bank. This is hoping that this not yet again another knee jerk decision taken more in anticipation of expected or promised forex inflow as against reality of the Nigerian supply situation. The second question mark has to do with the infidelity buried in the plan to retain a special window for so called critical transactions. This is the window on a larger scale the CBN is actually closing and it is surprising that they expect to travel right by boarding two ships at the same time. It is either the Nigerian foreign supply situation is too critical to leave to market forces alone...

When Vitafoam Nigeria PLC ended the first quarter to March 2016 with a loss, it must have been scary but goodness, by half year the ship had stabilised. According to unaudited results for the half year,compared to loss of N3.56 on each N100 income by March, gain of N0.46  was recorded by June 2016 with some relief Of course, the profit margin was no where near 5.84% reported at the same time in 2015 neither is it comparable to March 2015's 6.28% but it must have been good to be back in black ink. The fact was that must of the factors that applied pressure on the bottom line in the first quarter, were reversed during the second quarter leading to reduced adverse pressure. For example by June the 23.4% decrease in core revenue had been reduced to 13.7% drop to N8047.6m. Even 18.3% decrease in gross profit by March went down to 13.2% drop by June principally because aside from narrowed income decrease, cost of sale still dropped by 13.9%, that will is ahead of the core incom...

ECOBANK AIMS AT ONE STOP ECOBANK Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is aiming to offer its customers across Africa one stop shop for financial services by signing a new agreement with Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM) to grow existing cooperation. According to s release from ETI, OMEM which is a member of the Old Mutual group, already had a working relationship on product offerings. This partnership, says the release, will now " grow this relationship across selected countries where the two groups have operations " Hence, through it Ecobank  customers will have access to a range of financial services including life insurance, savings and short term insurance solutions. The chief executive officer of ETI, Mr Ade Adeyemi is quoted as saying of the new agreement: "This is a productive and valued partnership between two pan- African institutions to provide complete financial services solutions to our customers" On his part, the CEO of OMEM Mr Ralph Mupita repor...

So, in the wake of the final decision to deregulate petrol marketing? Well, according to the National Bureau of statistics, it is bad news only for lagosians, and a great relief for all other Nigerians. From the Premium spirit price watch report for April released recently by the NBS, only Lagos state had an average price for one litre of petrol any where the official recommended price of N86 plus. From the report, petrol was sold in Lagos at an average price of N92.59 per litre in April. This was 2.79% higher than the average of N90.08 per litre in March but certainly far below the N145 per litre the deregulation has now taken off with. On the average for the whole nation, petrol sold for N162.82 per litre in April, up 20% on the N135.65 in March. Of course, the official cap of N145 per litre which the almost free market took off with represents 10.9% drop on the April national average. Apart from Lagosians likely to feel more uncomfortable with the new price, 11 other state...

The Nigerian stock exchange has made public a new proposal to change the present minimum allowed for equity price movements across the board and as usual, expect stakeholders to react to it. According to a notice from Tinuade T Awe esq,general counsel and head, regulation, the target is Rule 15_19 that deals with price methodology. It says specifically that "securities shall trade in price movements of one kobo" This is the minimum allowed now across the board. Yet, goes the rational for the change being proposed " it is global best practice for exchanges to set price movements for securities in a manner which simplifies trading and promotes liquidity". Hence instead of across the board minimum the following amendments are being proposed: 1) Classification of equities into groups for calculating price movements and price limits as follows: A) Equities priced at N100 per share and above. B) Equities priced between N5 and below N100 and C) Equities pri...

The gross domestic product of Nigeria at current market prices grew by about 4.22% in the first quarter of this year when compared to first quarter of 2015. According to figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics  (NBS); the GDP for the quarter was N21,242,543.07m compared to N20,381,903.54m by March 2015. It certainly could have grown faster but for glaring drops in contribution from the petroleum sector. Petroleum and natural gas contribution dropped by 46.7% to N1,391,091.74m from N2,612,066.21m previously. At 54.9% the decrease recorded in oil refining contribution was even higher. It dived from N91953.17m by March 2015 to N41,503.64m. Other sectors with decrease in contribution to the GDP loss less than 10% each and include foods beverages and tobacco, financial institutions, electricity and gas , motion pictures etc and public administration. There were fairly healthy growths in some sectors of the economy hence the successful reversal of the downward pull b...

LIVESTOCK FEEDS: GOING STRESS. For Livestock Feeds PLC in the first quarter of this financial stress was an ongoing experience. According to the unaudited figures for the quarter, the only relief came from unexpected quarters: Finance as charges related to it dropped by 30% to N94.4m from N134.8m. The quarter to March had ended with encouraging 11.7% growth in core revenue to N2091.4m but this was watered down to 10.3% increase in total income growth due to 30% decrease in income from other sources. Yet that was just the beginning. Cost of sale closed 15.5% up at N1918.3m leading to 18% drop in gross profit. Then selling and distribution cost rose by 19% to N51.9m coupled with 18.6% increase in administration expenses. All above revenue growth rate. In the end, Livestock Feeds settled for only N3.42m profit, down 91.6$ on previous first quarter. In other words, at 0.16%, the company's profit margin was dangerously close to the loss league compared to 2.11% by the same...

Inflation rate in Nigeria, as measured by the consumer price index is still climbing without a break. According to the figures for April released by the National Bureau of statistics earlier this week, year on year, CPI rose by 13.72% in April. In January, it had increased by 9.62% before going double digit in February at 11.38% increase. In March the year on year increase was 12.77% and with the recent deregulation of petroleum products  marketing, it may in fact rise higher in May and beyond. However, it is yet to hit the highest growth since 2009 which was 15.65% in February 2010. Indeed, CPI growth trend in 2010 remains the top mark since 2009 but the April 2016 growth is a three year high. In fact, in the months ahead, repeat of 2010 consistently high inflation rate may be on the cards. For one, the recent deregulation of the petroleum products market will for starters lead to higher prices all round since it will impact on transportation and power generation. For ...

AIICO INSURANCE: BOARD CHANGES At the board of directors meeting held on March 17 2016, two directors resigned and three new ones were appointed at another meeting on May 5, to the board. The two non executive directors that resigned were Chief Oladele Fajemirokun and Senator Tokunbo Ogunbanjo. The three new members were Mr Samaila Dalhat Zubairu, Mr Bukola Oluwadiya and Mr Ademola Adebise. Mr Zubairu is currently the vice chairman of Africapital-Gem Development Partners ltd and a director of Nigerian infrastructure investment fund. With over 26 years of working experience in various capacities including as chief finance officer for Dangote cement and Obajana cement PLC, Zubairu holds Bsc Hons and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He also worked as treasurer, Dangote group, head investment banking and later group head, risk management at Liberty bank and as head of projects finance at FSB bank. Mr Oluwadiya holds Bsc, and MBA and is...

Alas, the Nigerian organised labour was unable to ground Nigeria the way many had feared and indeed, in line wity past nation wide strike actions decided on since the birth of the Nigerian nation. Compliance was at best partial even from the first day, not to talk of the next day when many banks in particular were bold enough to open for business. Some government offices were closed on the first day but certainly not federal government offices nor were those that were closed or remained open did so along political party lines. Different analysts have attributed this historic demystification of organised labours muscle in Nigeria to the existence of two factions of the movement hitherto while others attribute it to realities on the ground given track record of events and promises since the battle for deregulation of the downstream sector of the all important oil industry began. Naturally, the Buhari administration can also claim responsibility for the turn of events since Wednesday....

These are certainly not the best of times Nigeria and any one presently living in Nigeria. In the first place hopes wrongly raised during last year's presidential campaign and baton change were too soon crushed by realities and neophyte leadership with very limited knowledge of the situation on the ground. But that was easy to live with except that decisions that should have been taken on the crest of leadership goodwill were not taken and so, added to inter and intra party politics since the baton change, inherited wound festered almost beyond one surgical operation. There was no way organised labour will have welcomed the new President in 2015 with well meant demand for new minimum wage. There was no way too that militants and pipeline saboteurs would have increased their acts immediately the new government was sworn in. Added these, compared to today, the Naira was still fairly strong and stable; crude oil price was yet at rock bottom and so many jobs since lost were s...

TOTAL NIGERIA PLC: REWARD OF HOPE In tough 2015, Total Nigeria PLC kept its own hope alive by investing in new plant and equipment thus raising closing value by 5.33% in spite of depreciation provision. Of course, this threw some liquidity challenges on its way but, says first quarter figures to March 2016, even that is now under control. True as far as revenue and cost of sale was concerned, it could only be inferred from the quarter figures that things were looking better although drop in revenue was still recorded. It looked better because revenue drop was very marginal and more importantly, cost of sale decreased at a faster rate. So unlike in 2015 year when gross profit drop was it, 35.7% increase to N8893m was reported. The more outstanding good news was that income from other sources spiralled to N304.7m; administration cost dropped by 7.88% to N3793.5m and finance charges declined by 45.1% to N254m although 50.5% decrease in finance income to N88.2m almost spoiled the...

Time was when world kings and leaders were savages and men with little value for lives other than their own. Today, such men of valor and power are no more, their descendants are now gentlemen and ladies teaching the world how to behave and the need for ocial manners. Time was when slave masters worked their human cartel to death, abused them at will even sexually and abandoned the children who were products of their lust. Today, their descendants proud themselves on having a black president and being the champion and defender of human rights worldwide. Time was when particular races of men were so deluded with their own perceived superiority that they plundered and declared war on the weak and defenceless, glorified and celebrated their brand of gallantry but in the end, today their descendants avoid war by all means and seek peace and every nations right to exist no matter how small such nations are. Time is now when selfishness rules the world, when there are no permanent frie...

AFROMEDIA PLC: NEARER SURFACE ? For quite a while now Afromedia PLC has been finding ways to surface from the loss league, is the surf ace any nearer? May be, according to the unaudited figures for six months to March 2016. The hope offered is summed up in the fact that Afromedia ended the period losing N152.8 on each N100 income compared to N249.3 by the first of the previous year. Of course, that level of loss is still life threatening but work harder at what made it possible and you could be on the way to the surface. So many factors helped. They include 20.7% drop in direct cost to N151m while core revenue generated rose by 5.29% to N229m and 43.9% decrease in finance charges to N174.6m Also helpful was the 6.86% decline in administration cost reported but not so for 24.4% increase in distribution expenses and 36.3% jump in other operating costs to N19.9m. The icing on the cake was N4.32m in other income that previously fetched pittance. And the cake was that the loss r...

La  FARGE AFRICA PLC ACQUIRES UNICHEM. La  Farge  Africa PLC has decided to acquire full controlling interests in United Cement Company of Nigeria. According to a notice  to the Nigerian stock exchange signed by company secretary, Ms Uzoma-Uja, the Board of directors of La Farge  passed a formal resolution to that effect at a meeting held on May 12 2016 thus taking final action on shareholders decision at the 55th Annual general meeting held on April 9, 2014. Under the arrangement La  Farge will acquire 50% interest in the company hitherto held by the Egyptian company, Egyptian Cement Holdings BV which is jointly owned by La  Farge Holcim Group and La Farge Africa. On its part, the La Farge Holcim interest in the Egyptian company is through Holcibel SA from whom La Farge Africa will acquire the 50% in United Cement. As consideration for the purchase La Farge Africa is to issue 413,175,709 ordinary shares of its own shares and end up owning Unichem 100%. NEW DIRECTOR FOR CON...

BETA GLASS PLC Proposed.           40k per share Qualification date  10/6/2016 Closure dates.   13-17/6/2016 Payment date.    1/7/2016 AGM           No information yet. E TRANZACT PLC Proposed.               10 k per share Qualification date  31/5/2016 Closure dates.      1-7/6/2016 Payment date       8/7/2016 AGM.             No information yet. NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC. Proposed.          15 kobo per share Closure dates    11-15/7/2016 Payment date      4/8/2016 AGM date.            3/8/2016 AGM ve...

The Nigerian stock exchange taken raised the bar in its  effort to ensure compliance with quotation regulations by quoted companies with the introduction of codes that could give investors an idea of each company's compliance level. According to an official notice by the Exchange, the codes will be attached to companies as appropriate to indicate compliance level. There are eleven codes in all and each refers to appropriate deficiencies with regards to existing listing requirements and regulations. They are: BLS: This will be attached to  companies that fall below listing standards MRF: This will be attached to quoted companies that miss regulatory filing deadline for audited., unaudited and other mandatory reports. DWL: Those companies that are served with delisting notice which the Exchange has put on hold to allow them correct defects in compliance will have this attached to them. It simply means delisting watch list. DIP: The code will be for companies with ...

FIRST ALUMINIUM PLC: TWO GOOD TURNS. First Aluminium PLC ended financial year 2015 with only two good turns in its favour: Fair liquidity management and double digit drop in administration expenses. According to the audited results for the year, First Aluminium started the year with N330m working capital deficit but ended it with N128m surplus. This as a result of 66.4% increase in long term borrowings to N654.5m mostly to bring down more costly short term borrowings by 27.5%. to N1568.6m even as cash on hand dropped by 31.4% to N231.7m and inventories went down by 8.93% to N1713m. Where First Aluminium got its liquidity management wrong was in decreasing payables by 3.37% to N593m while increasing receivables by 40.9% to N407.3m. In the issue of profitability, only 14.3% decline in administration expenses to N188.7m helped. Though core revenue increased by 17.7% to N10478.2m, the impact was watered down by 19.5% rise in cost of sale to N9751.3m amidst 19.5% drop in revenue f...

MULTIVERSE MINING & EXPLORATION PLC: PROFIT IN SIGHT? The financial year 2015 turned out to be one for finally deciding if Multiverse  Mining and Exploration PLC had chance of making profit at all. According to the results for the year, MM&E PLC the possibility exists after years of accumulating losses. Sure it ended 2015 with 17.5 % increase in accumulated losses but the good news was that at N405.9m, the loss for the year was 30% lower than 2014's N580m loss. The year end pointer to profit possibility was the direct product of 17.5% increase in core revenue to N57.8m accompanied by 67% decline in cost of sale to N45.9m in spite of the revenue growth. Of course, also very helpful was the leap in Other income to N58.1m from N13m in 2014. It was also significant that no selling and distribution cost was incurred within the year compared to N6.55m so incurred in 2014 and that increase in administration expenses was manageable. The lone pressure within the yea...

At last, the controversial 2016 budget has been signed by President M Buhari, months behind schedule. In his speech during at the occasion, the President assured Nigerians that it projects his government's determination to reflate the economy and stimulate demand. To this end, Budget 2016's record breaking size and deficit was deliberate without any qualms over the foreign and local borrowings that will also most likely set new records especially if crude oil price refuses to recover significantly. To this effect, declared the President about N350bn was to be injected into the economy immediately. Particularly, road construction is to gulp N200bn compared to only N18bn provided for this in 2015 budget. The impression one gets is that in spite of the controversy and political horse trading and muscle flexing that hovered over the budgeting process all through, government has given enough thought to the budget and so, it will herald Buhari change agenda. Unfortunately,...

WEMA BANK: PRESSURES GALORE In the first quarter to March, Wema Bank was kept very busy wading off pressures from many angles. According to the unaudited results for the period, interest income growth of 8.17% to N9657.5m was reduced to 5.8% increase in gross earnings to N11241.1m but that was the least of Wema troubles. A major issue was that interest expense rose by 19.8% to N5631.9m. However the impact of this was whittled down by write back of N34.8m within the quarter as against N55.6m provision previously. But then, net trading income declined by 65.6% to N110.6m and Other income decreased by 44% to N126.1m. It was only fee and commission that chipped in good news as it increased by 17.1% to N1346.9m. Hence despite personnel cost rising by only 0.96% to N2558.7m and Other expenses increasing by 5.94% to  N2017.7m, profit before tax decreased by 17.8% to N505.3m from N615.3m previously. This translates into N4.5 gain on each N100 income compared to N5.79 at the same ...

FIDSON HEALTHCARE: CARING, NO SMILES For Fidson Healthcare PLC, in the first quarter to March 2016, it was more or less a case of caring with no room for smiles. Or so m he quarter figures show. Core revenue had eased slightly by 0.94% but more stressful was the fact that cost of sale instead increased by 0.81%. To worsen matters, overall overhead grew by 2.6% to N462.4m just like finance charges which also closed up but by 3.68% to N157.0m. In other words, during the period, the only encouraging news was that Other income came to N15.3m compared to mere N1.18m by March 2015. No wonder, Fidson Healthcare ended the quarter with 31.6% decline in profit before tax to N41.9m. This worked out at N3.4 on every N100 income as against N4.98 previously. FIDSON HEALTHCARE: (Nm)                     First quarter                         2016.             2015 Total income 1232.7.         1230.1 Core revenue 1217.4.          1228.9 Cost of sale.   570.4.             565.8 ...

FBN HOLDINGS PLC: BULLET BITING. Due to its very high impairment provision for doubtful debts, FBN Holdings PLC has been struggling to regain control since 2015 but, says 2016 first quarter figures, bullet biting is beginning to help keep the massive ship afloat. In 2015, FBN had to increase impairment provision by 360% and from the first quarter figures, the condition that demanded this had changed much. Hence, in the quarter, impairment provision still grew by 212.5% to N12754m. This time around though while cost cutting measures introduced in 2015 only depressed operating expenses by 11.9% and limited personnel cost growth to 0.72%, operating cost and personnel expenses were down by 19.8% and 4.17% respectively. This helped steer the ship in the first quarter alongside 12.4% decrease in interest income to N83457m that was accompanied by 45.2% decrease in attendant expense, leap in gain from sale of investment securities to N3465m, and 27.3% drop in reinsurance from only 10% ...

PHARMADEKO PLC: 2015 NOT QUITE EUREKA. For Pharma Deko  PLC, the year 2015 was a remarkable year because it hit a bottom but unfortunately, it did not quite turn out to be time to shout, eureka, I have found it. According to the audited results for the year, Pharma Deko  ended 2015 with profit before tax of N701.7m compared to N 150.2m in 2014 but clinking glasses on celebration will be premature. This is because the bulk of the year profit was the type that will be hard to come by in 2016 and beyond. A major contributor was Other income which came N885.4m but was made up of N620.1m gain from sale of one of its factories and some other income that are more capital gain than current income. However, Pharma DEKO did benefit immensely in 2015 from the new money injected by shareholders at premium. It ended the year with considerable interest income compared to finance cost hitherto and reversed its liquidity position for good. Of course, these can be hoped on in 2016 but the i...

CHAMPION BREWERIES PLC: Champion start. Champion Breweries PLC seems to have laid good foundation for winning year in the first quarter to March 2016. Or so the unaudited results for the period indicate Champion Breweries won the first quarter battle with all except selling and distribution costs giving s helping hand. The tune setting helping hand was only 5.48% increase in cost of sale to N606.2m while generating core revenue growth of 15.2% to N871.9m. Total income growth even ended higher than this at 18% to N897.9m as Other income rose to N11.8m from N3.87m and from zero previously, finance income clocked N14.2m. Administration cost ended the quarter 14% up but compared to income recorded, that caused no trouble. The odd one out of the lot was selling and distribution costs which at 35.8% to N82.3m, recorded growth that was more than twice that in core revenue. However, this was easily absorbed and so, closing profit before tax came to N81.6m from N13.4m in 2015 corr...