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Guinness Nigeria has announced 6 per cent increase in revenue for the first quarter of its financial year ended 30 September 2016.
The company attributed the increase partly to contributions from its new mainstream and international premium spirits business “as well as the continuing growth of its value brands”.
The financial statements released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) also showed that the company had a Loss After Tax position of N2.2Billion within the period.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria, Peter Ndegwa, explained that the revenue growth was in spite of continuing challenges in the operating environment.
He said: “The environment remains tough but we have seen contributions from our mainstream and international premium spirits brands as well as continuing growth of Satzenbrau. Thesewere the key drivers of the 6% revenue growth recorded for the quarter. Our cost of sales was impacted by the high inflationary environment and continuing currency devaluation leading to areduction in operating profit”.
Explaining further, he said: “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 willalso 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 achallenging market in the short to medium term” he added.
Citing long term commitment to the Nigerian market as a key driver, Guinness Nigeria recently announced a further GBP12M of investments into Nigeria as it plans to commission a newspirits manufacturing line in its Benin plant in the coming weeks. This investment will give a big boost to the company’s ambition to source 75% of its production raw materials locally in the nexttwo years.
Also, at the beginning of October, Guinness Nigeria commissioned a new water project in a community in Benue State as part of its Water of Life programme, which in turn is one pillar withinthe company’s broader community investment agenda.
*Contact citybusinessnews@yahoo.com
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