
"Extremely challenging" market conditions in Nigeria drove down first-half profits by a fifth at consumer goods group PZ Cussons (PZC), which means full-year profits will fall short of management's – and analysts' – expectations. Company bosses now expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £70m for the year ending 31 May 2019, prompting broker Investec to apply a 12.5 per cent cut to its previous forecast. Analysts there now expect pre-tax profits of £70m, giving EPS of 12.3p, down from £80.1m and 13.4p in FY2018.