NIGERIA – Guinness Nigeria Plc has announced a revenue increase and a quarter one loss as the tough economy in Nigeria impacts the brewer.
Releasing the company’s financials for the end of the first quarter of its year ended 30 September 2016, the maker of Guinness reported a revenue increase of 6%, driven in part by contributions from its new mainstream and international premium spirits business as well as the continuing growth of its value brands.
However, in its financial statements released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company reported a Loss After Tax position of N2.2bn (about US$7.7billion) during the period.
“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,” said Peter Ndegwa,Managing Director/CEO, of the company, in spite of continuing challenges in the operating environment in the country.
Nigeria’s economy has continued to face headwinds caused by falling oil revenues, in which the country relies for its forex supplies, and an insurgency in the northern part of the country.
“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”.
The company has plans to drive performance in to the rest of the year investing in its brands and innovation, says the CEO.
“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.
Investing into the future, the company recently announced a further £12million of investments into Nigeria as it plans to commission a new spirits manufacturing line in its Benin plant in the coming weeks.