Guinness Nigeria announces two new non-executive directors

NIGERIA – Guinness Nigeria, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc has announced the appointment of Professor Fabian Ajogwu, SAN and Mr. Paul Gallagher to its Board as Non-Executive Directors, reports Beverage Industry News.

Fabian Ajogwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, practices law at Kenna Partners; and is a Lagos Business School Professor of Corporate Governance.

He holds a Doctorate degree in Law from University of Aberdeen, Scotland; an MBA from the IESE Business School, Barcelona; and Law degrees from the University of Nigeria, and University of Lagos.

According to a statement released by the company, the two appointments were approved by the Board of Directors of Guinness Nigeria Plc at its meeting held in October with effect from 1st November 2018.

Their appointment follows that of Yemisi Ayeni, who joined the company’s board as a Non-Executive Director effective 1 September 2018.

She succeeded Prof Joe Irukwu SAN who retired from the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 28th August, 2018.

In May this year, Guinness Nigeria announced the appointment of a new CEO, Baker Magunda who previously was Managing Director of Meta Abo Brewery in Ethiopia.

This was after the then Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ndegwa stepped down to take up a new role as the Managing Director, Continental Europe and Russia, a member of the Diageo Group, Guinness Nigeria’s parent company.

For the year ended 30 June 2018, the company reported 14% rise in revenue to US$395.07 million from US$347.93 million recorded in the 2017 financial year.

It noted that the beer market declined 14% in volume during the year, driven by Ready-to-drink (RTD), stout and lager, which declined by 29%, 15% and 11% respectively.

The brewing industry was affected by poor consumer purchasing power in the country, where 27.4% market of malted soft drinks and 19.4% in volume and value were lost.

Looking into the future, the company said it will focus on the three strategic pillars of productivity, expansion of its portfolio and execution of the commercial footprint initiatives.