NIGERIA – Nigerian Breweries Plc, has opened its newly built N5.1 billion (US$13.3m) ultra-modern automated PET line at the Ijebu Ode brewery, Ogun State.

According to the company, the facility is fully automated to meet world-class safety and quality requirements and has the capacity to produce 24,000 bottles of drinks per hour.

It is also expected to become a central supply and a critical enabler to the company’s plans to export its drinks outside its home base to West Africa and beyond.

The line will increase the production capacity of Maltina and other variants, satisfying the refreshment needs of millions of consumers in the region.

The commissioning was done by the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in the company of other distinguished guests such as the Honourable Minister for Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona.

“We are the state with the largest concentration of industries in diverse sectors of the economy. Indeed, today’s event is another testimonial to the successes of our administration’s business policies and programmes to improve on our ease of doing business ranking to ensure that new investments are attracted into our dear state just as existing businesses are thriving,” said Prince Dapo Abiodun.

The expansion by the beverage maker is geared towards boosting the gross domestic product of the country and create more jobs.

The new line has the capacity to produce 24,000 bottles of drinks per hour.

Majority owned by Heineken, the company established its first solar roof system at its Ibadan brewery last year with the capacity of 650 kW.

The landmark project was the first of its kind in Nigeria and was installed by CrossBoundary Energy who operates the rooftop facility on behalf of Nigerian Breweries as part of a 15-year solar services agreement.

Under the agreement, Nigerian Breweries will only pay for solar power produced, receiving a single monthly bill that incorporates all maintenance, monitoring, insurance and financing costs.

The solar plant supplies 1 GWh annually to the Ibadan brewery at a significant discount to its current cost of power while reducing the site’s CO2 emissions by more than 10,000 tonnes over the lifespan of the plant.

The Dutch beer maker has also been recently ramping up investment in the company with the acquisition of 3.3 million additional shares at around N138 million (about US$358,000).

The multinational company had also previously acquired 274, 542 more shares at a cost of N37 per unit.

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