In the past 2 weeks, the following companies have released either their full year or quarterly results.And the some of the stockbrokers (FSDH, Afrinvest, ARM) have prepared some analysis of their results. The highlights and results are below:

FSDH – Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc: Interim Results – Q3, Sept. 2009
FSDH - Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc: Interim Results – Q3, Sept. 2009 (221)

FSDH – PZ Cussons Plc: Interim Results – Q3 2010
FSDH - PZ Cussons Plc: Interim Results – Q3 2010 (190)

ARM – Nestlé Nigeria Plc FY 09
ARM - Nestlé Nigeria Plc FY 09 (608)

Afrinvest – GTB – Full Year ended 31 December 2009
Afrinvest - GTB - Full Year ended 31 December 2009 (323)

FY’09 Results:
* GTBank reported a 61.6% growth in gross earnings to N162.6bn (US$1.1bn) from N100.6bn (US$669.4m).
* Total loan and advances grew by 35.4% to N563.5bn (US$4.6bn).
* The bank’s operating income increased by 22.0% to N188.2bn (US$1.3bn).
* Non-Performing Loans (NPL), as a proportion of gross loans, grew from 2.0% in FY ‘08 to 12.0%.
* Pre-tax profits went down 20.9% to N27.9bn as further provisioning for risk assets eroded profits.

FY’10 Outlook:
* We believe that GTBank will continue to demonstrate a healthy potential for earnings growth and improved operational efficiency.
* We expect the bank to leverage on its strong brand and its perceived conservative business model to capture more market share in order to increase current profitability levels.
* While we are positive on the bank’s outlook, as we expect it to maintain its history of strong asset growth, we are however concerned with the velocity of liability generation which needs to be at par with asset growth.
* On this basis, we establish a 12-month price target of N25.70 (ex-div), indicating a 12.5% upside based on its market price as at April 08, 2010 (N22.80) and hereby reiterate our ACCUMULATE recommendation on GTBank, as we believe that a greater part of its upside potential has been priced in at current valuation.

Afrinvest – Oando Nigeria Plc – FY09
Afrinvest - Oando Nigeria Plc - FY09 (186)

FY’09 Results:
* Oando reported a relatively flat turnover of N336.9bn when compared with N339.4bn reported in the previous year.
* PBT and pre-tax margins went up by 25.8% and 4.0% respectively.
* The pre-tax margin of 4.0% is the company’s best in the last five years; this suggests improved efficiency amidst an increasingly challenging operating environment.

FY’10 Outlook:
* We are however positive about the company’s outlook as we expect it to leverage on the high margin potential of producing upstream assets to deliver additional top-line growth.
* We also expect that proceeds from its recent capital raising exercise will be used to pay down on some existing debt.
* On this basis, we upgrade our recommendation on Oando to a BUY at current valuation, as we forecast the ex-div price to settle within a N97.50 – N102.50 range over the next 12 months.

Afrinvest – PZ Cussons (Nigeria) Plc – Q3 2010
Afrinvest - PZ Cussons (Nigeria) Plc - Q3 2010 (258)

FY’09 Results:
* PZ Cussons reported improved profit margins despite reduced turnover.
* Turnover fell by 4.6% to N44.2bn (US$293.6m), while PBT grew by 23.0% to N5.3bn (US$35.0m).
* The company embarked on cost containment strategies as reflected by the growth in PBT margins from 9.3% in Q3 ’09 to 11.9% in Q3 ’10.

FY’10 Outlook:
* Although we recognize the potential impact of the company’s cost reduction strategies on its earnings, we however note that the increased strain on sales volumes poses a major downside risk.
* On this basis, we forecast FY 2010 PBT and PAT of N8.6bn (US$56.9m) and N6.0bn (US$39.8m) respectively.
* Our recommendation therefore is to REDUCE at current valuations as we forecast a FY’10 (12 month) price target of N26.61.

Afrinvest – Zenith Bank Plc – 3 Months Ended March 31, 2010:
Afrinvest - Zenith Bank Plc - 3 Months Ended March 31, 2010 (237)

Q1’10 Results:
* Zenith Bank reported a 4.6% growth in gross earnings to N55.0bn (US$365.9m).
* PBT went up by 12.3% to N13.2bn (US$87.8m), with a 6.7% increase in profit margin to 24.0%.
* Deposits grew by 9.0% to N1.3tn (US$8.6bn), while the bank still maintains a loan to deposit ratio of 52.0%.

FY’10 Outlook:
* We expect Zenith Bank to continue to leverage on its market share in the corporate banking sector.
* We therefore review our full year gross earnings forecast to N255.1bn (US$1.7bn), and PBT to N54.1bn (US$359.7m).
* We also establish a 12-month price target of N19.00 and hereby re-iterate our ACCUMULATE recommendation on Zenith Bank at current valuation.