Cadbury Nigeria has proposed to transfer its $7.7 million (N7.03 billion) debt to Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited for more shares.
Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited, held by Mondel-z International Inc, owns 74.97 per cent of Cadbury Nigeria.
In a statement issued to the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Tuesday, NGX Cadbury Nigeria stated it borrowed $23 million from Cadbury Schweppes to repay outstanding third-party loans used to cover raw material imports and other input expenditures.
Cadbury Nigeria stated that company is having difficulty servicing foreign currency-denominated debts owing to continuous foreign currency scarcity in the nation.
Cadbury said:
“The liberalisation of the foreign exchange market in June 2023 and attendant devaluation of the currency put further pressure on the Company as the Naira value of its foreign currency denominated loans increased significantly.
“This resulted in an unrealised exchange loss of ¦ 20.6 billion and a loss after tax of ¦ 10.2 billion for the period ended, 30 September 2023.”
According to Cadbury Nigeria, it was able to repay $18.6 million in principle and interest to the investor, leaving an outstanding amount of $7.7 million as of December 31, 2023.
cc: Vanguard Ng
