NIGERIA – International Breweries Plc, the Nigerian unit of global brewer – AB InBev, has reported a 32.1% increase in revenue in the third quarter of 2021 to N46.43 billion (US$112.47m) from N35.15 billion (US$85.15m) recorded in Q3 of 2020.

The leading beer maker has produced the strong top-line performance courtesy of its consistent efforts in availing quality products and expansion of its route to market.

Its premium brands continue to gain unprecedented acceptance and loyalty from consumers.

Meanwhile, its cost of sales also increased by 16% to N33.86 billion (US$82.02m), thereby yielding a gross profit of N12.57 billion (US$30.45m) in Q3 2021, a significant jump from N5.96 billion (US$14.4m) recorded in the previous year.

Similarly, the gross profit margin moved upward from 16.9% recorded in Q3 2020 to 27.1per cent in the review period.

Its earnings per share also moved towards positive territory from the loss recorded in the corresponding period of 2020 to N1 in Q3 2021.

A cursory analysis of the statement of financial position shows that the total assets of the company increased by 8.3% in the past nine months.

It grew from N372.65 billion (US$905.72m) recorded as of the end of last year to N403.46 billion (US$977.36m) as of September 2021.

In the same vein, inventories jumped significantly by 65.8per cent to N23.54 billion (US$57.02m) as of Q3 2021 from N14.19 billion (US$34.37m) recorded as of the end of last year.

Overall, the Nigeria Stock Exchange Listed company reported a profit after tax of N367.5 million (US$890,000) in the review period, a major boost from the downturn recorded in the previous year.

Recall that, the maker of Trophy and Eagle beer brands, printed negative returns in the previous year, largely attributed to the effect of the covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures around the world, specifically Nigeria.

In 2020, the company reported a 1.53% revenue decline in the nine months ended September from the previous year’s N97.66 billion (US$256.1m) to N95.77 billion (US$251.2m).

Despite the decline in revenue, the company registered a drop in both administrative and marketing expenses which led to the shrinking of its loss before tax.

Its administrative expenses amounted to N17.61 billion (US$46.2m), a 9.86% drop from N19.5 billion (US$51.1m) of 2019.

Its marketing expenses decreased by 28.76% to N8.42 billion (US$22m) from N11.81 billion (US$30.9m). Financing cost took a big plunge from N13.136 billion (US$34.4m) to N1.8billion (US$4.7m).

Consequently, loss before tax stood at N17.719billion (US$46.4m), compared with N24 billion (US$62.95m) of the corresponding period, while loss after tax reduced from N16.44 billion (US$43.1m) to N10.877 billion (US$28.5m) in 2020.

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