Saturday 16 April 2016

Nestle sustains high dividend record on CSE

Billions paid to govt. tax coffers and pumped into rural economy

Nestle Lanka PLC, one of the highest dividend paying companies quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange, has closed 2015 with revenue up nine percent from the previous year to Rs. 35.9 billion of which Rs. 6.7 billion went to the exchequer and Rs. 7.2 billion to the rural economy and an earning per share of Rs. 76.77 the bulk of which is being paid out to its over 5,000 shareholders.

"In the light of your company’s consistent and solid performance, your directors were pleased to declare an interim dividend of Rs. 34.50 per share on Feb. 23, 2016 and are recommending a final dividend of Rs. 30 per share for your approval," Nestle Chairman Suresh Narayanan has said in the company’s recently released annual report.

The contribution to the rural economy comprised Rs. 3.6 billion to nearly 20,000 local dairy farmers for fresh milk supplied and Rs. 2.6 billion to the coconut industry for procuring fresh coconuts.

Narayanan noted that Nestle which will celebrate the milestone of a 110-year presence in Sri Lanka this year – and a global presence of 150 years – looked forward to making 2016 "the first successful year of our next 150 years."

The company’s MD/CEO Shivani Hegde described the year under review as a good one for Nestle, delivering strong results in what had been a challenging year. She reported that their "much loved power brands, Nestomalt, Milo and Maggi" had played an important role in fuelling the company’s growth.

"Nespray which comes to consumers with the goodness of Sri Lankan milk and the Nestlé’s global expertise in child nutrition, strengthened its portfolio with the launch of Nespray Nutri-Up, a ready-to-drink product fortified with vitamins A and D," she reported.

She reported they had continued to invest in Sri Lanka’s rural economy contributing more than six billion rupees to almost 25,000 local farming families to purchase fresh milk and coconuts for their products; and remained committed to manufacturing as efficiently as possible, reducing energy consumption by 40% and water consumption by 39% over the last seven years.


The year under review saw Nestle growing revenue to Rs. 35.85 billion from the previous year’s Rs. 32.9 billion and the after tax profit to Rs. 4.12 billion from Rs. 3.79 billion.

The company’s stated capital stood at Rs. 537.25 million and retained earnings at Rs. 3.98 billion. The Nestle share traded at a high of Rs. 2,390 and a low of Rs. 1,960.40 during the year under review.

Nestle S.A. with 90.82 percent of the company is the controlling shareholder. Much of the balance in held by foreign funds with the EPF owning 0.19%. There are a handful of resident local shareholders in the top twenty list.

The directors of the company are Messer’s. Suresh Narayanan (Chairman), Shivani Hegde (MD), Jagdish Kumar Singla, Shobinder Duggal, Mahen Dayananda and Ranjan Seevaratnam.
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