Guinness Nigeria Plc today announced a revenue increase of 6%
for the first quarter of its financial year ended 30 September 2016. The company
said the increase was driven in part by contributions from its new mainstream and
international premium spirits business as well as the continuing growth of its value
brands. The financial statements released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange over the
weekend also showed that the company had a Loss After Tax position of N2.2bn in
the period.
Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria said the
revenue growth was in spite of continuing challenges in the operating environment.
“The environment remains tough but we have seen contributions from our mainstream
and international premium spirits brands as well as continuing growth of Satzenbrau.
These were the key drivers of the 6% revenue growth recorded for the quarter. Our
cost of sales was impacted by the high inflationary environment and continuing currency
devaluation leading to a reduction in operating profit. The higher finance cost
in the quarter is due to the impact of unrealized foreign exchange losses as a result
of the currency devaluation”.
“Going forward, innovation will continue to be a big part of
our strategy us as we look to deepen our participation in the mainstream and value
segments. We will also continue to invest behind our brands with a key focus on
building the right portfolio for future growth and re-shaping our organization to
take advantage of what is likely to continue to be a challenging market in the
short to medium term” he added.
Citing long term commitment to the Nigerian market as a key driver,
Guinness Nigeria recently announced a further GBP12M of investments into Nigeria
as it plans to commission a new spirits manufacturing line in its Benin plant in
the coming weeks. This investment will give a big boost to the company’s ambition
to source 75% of its production raw materials locally in the next two years. Additionally,
at the beginning of October, Guinness Nigeria commissioned a new water project in
a community in Benue State as part of its Water of Life programme, which in turn
is one pillar within the company’s broader community investment agenda.
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