Eight firms have declared N918.1bn as currency revaluation loss following a 68.55 percent decline in the value of the naira against the dollar as of the end of September 2023.

Following a Central Bank of Nigeria move in June to allow the market to determine the value of the local currency, the naira had fallen from 461/$1 as of December 2022 to 777/$1 in September 2023. An analysis of the financial statements of these firms showed that the devaluation of the naira from N465/$ at the end of May 2023 to N776.79/$ gave rise to this recorded exchange loss.

The firms include: Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Airtel Africa Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, and Seplat Energy Plc

According to the World Bank, the naira is one of the worst-performing currencies in Africa, losing nearly 40 percent of its value since June. This has negatively impacted firms like Dangote Sugar which recorded a revaluation loss of N90.99bn.

The firm said, “In line with the CBN circular of 14 June 2023 (Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange markets) which introduced the “willing buyer willing seller” on the Investors and Exporters (I & E) Window based on the prevailing market rates, the Group changed its USD/Naira closing rate of 461 as at 31 December 2022 to 756 as at 30 June 2023 and now 776.79 as at 30 September 2023.

“Monetary Assets and liabilities for the Nigeria operations were revalued at this rate resulting in a revaluation loss of N72.88bn for the Group. This was driven by Letters of Credit and foreign vendor balances. The revaluation loss is included as part of N90.997bn for the group (N90.42bn for the company) in note 10.0 above. The loss has been fully recognised in the month of September 2023.”

Dangote Cement recorded N99.02bn as a revaluation loss. Nestle’s revaluation loss was N143.4bn in the period under review. The firm highlighted that due to the recent devaluation of the naira, it revaluated four foreign currency obligations, which led to its N143.4bn loss for the period ended 30 September 2023. MRS Oil recorded N2.37bn, and Seplat recorded N16.38bn.

Nigerian Breweries recorded a N86.83bn revaluation loss for the period. On MTN Nigeria’s part, it recorded a forex loss of N232.8bn on its net foreign currency liabilities following the devaluation of the naira from 461/$1 in December 2022 to 777/$1 in September 2023.

The firm highlighted that aside from recording a forex loss, it has issues raising foreign exchange for its capital expenditure needs.

The firm said, “Given the protracted forex paucity in the market, MTN Nigeria utilised trade lines to fund the establishment of confirmed irrevocable letters of credit for its network capex investments to sustain revenue growth.

“Our recognised forex loss for the nine months to September 2023 was 77 percent higher than the amount reported in H1 2023, where we measured all the trade lines after offsetting the naira-denominated cash cover that was provided to the banks. Following further analysis and review, we have remeasured all our trade lines to correctly exclude the naira-denominated cash cover that was provided to the banks.”

For Airtel, its foreign exchange loss after tax was $317m (N246.31bn). It noted, “Loss after tax was $13m driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471m recorded in finance cost before tax and $317m after tax because of the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023. This impact has been classified as an exceptional item.”

Like MTN, the firm also documented its challenge with meeting its foreign exchange obligations.

It stated, “In some markets, we face instances of limited supply of foreign currency within the local monetary system. This not only constrains our ability to fully benefit at group level from strong cash generation by those OpCos but also impacts our ability to make timely foreign currency payments to our international suppliers.”

According to experts, the forex loss recorded by the firms was expected given the economic headwinds businesses have had to deal with in 2023. They also highlighted that most of the firms impacted had foreign loans or obligations.

In an earlier interview with The PUNCH, the Managing Director/Chief Business Officer, Optimus by Afrinvest, Ayodeji Ebo, said, “Based on reporting, they were all using the I& E window rate, which was over N460, now they have to use the current rate, which is over N750, which is massive, and that has led to significant FX losses.