Investors in Carex and Imperial Leather maker PZ Cussons (PZC) must be wringing their hands as they see the firm’s share price disappearing slowly down the plughole.

Year-to-date the stock has lost over 40% of its value, while over one year it is down 53% and last week the price hit its lowest level in more than two decades.

The root cause of the problem seems to be challenges in Nigeria where the naira has fallen 70% in the past year, the biggest drop in the currency’s history.

That led to an 18% fall in group revenue and a 24% drop in adjusted pre-tax profit for the six months to the start of December 2023, which in turn spurred 44% cut in the interim dividend to 1.5p per share.

When it updated the market in February, the firm projected operating earnings for the year to the start of June would be in the range of £55 million to £60 million against previous guidance of between £61 million to £68 million.

Shareholders will therefore be watching to see whether there is a further change to guidance when the company delivers its third-quarter trading update on 24 April.

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