NIGERIA – Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nigeria’s pioneer and largest brewing company, has reported a net revenue of N402bn (US$509M) during the nine months ending 31st September 2023 despite tough economic challenges experienced in the country.
This represents a 2% increment in revenue compared to the N393 billion reported during the corresponding period in 2022.
Net revenues for quarter 3 (Q3) amounted to N124.38 billion, a slight increase from the N119.364 billion recorded during the same period in the year prior.
The increased revenue was recorded despite a decline in sales volume caused by the continued pressure on disposable income and significant socio-political challenges in some parts of the country.
“Revenue increased by a low-single-digit percentage driven by pricing to mitigate inflation. Pricing and significant cost savings initiatives were not enough to fully mitigate rising input costs,” stated Uaboi Agbebaku, Nigeria Breweries’ legal director.
Q3 gross profits amounted to N40.235 million, a 12.5% year-on-year decline compared to the N35.79 billion reported in Q3 of 2022.
This had an impact on the company’s 9-month gross earnings which also improved to N154.53 billion from N152.56 billion in 2022.
Even though the reported revenue earnings represent an increment from the revenue recorded during the same period in 2022, the recorded revenue represents a decline from revenue obtained during the second quarter of 2023.
According to Agbebaku, “Due to the lower sales volume, rising input costs as a result of the rate of inflation, and the devaluation of the naira, as well as restructuring cost, the operating profit of the company reported a 23 % decline from N36bn (US$45.7M) in 2022 to N28BN (US$35.6M) in the current period.”
He added that due to the higher interest costs and a huge increase in foreign exchange losses due to the devaluation of the naira, the company recorded a loss after tax of N57 billion (US$72.4M) during the period.
The loss was majorly driven by a rise in net finance costs, which rose by 546.9 per cent from N16.29(US$20.6M) billion in September 2022 to N105.4 billion (US$134M) in 2023.
The group, however, maintained a strong assets base of N709.8 billion up from N619.88 billion in December 2022, while Nigeria Breweries’ total liability rose from N440.43 billion in December 2022 to N597.38 billion
During the period under review, Nigerian Breweries loans and borrowings rose to N247.8 billion in 2023 from the N108.12 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
A member of the Dutch multinational brewing company Heineken Group, Nigerian Breweries Plc made history in June 1949 when the first bottle of STAR lager beer rolled out of its Lagos brewery bottling line.
Today, it has a rich portfolio of 19 high-quality brands (Heineken, Desperados, Maltina, Life, Amstel Malta, Gulder, Fayrouz, and Legend) produced from nine breweries and distributed nationwide.
