Guinness Nigeria Plc has reported its audited results for the year ended June 30,2023, showing sustained growth with an impressive 11 per cent increase in revenue to N229.44 billion, from N206.8 billion in 2022 despite facing severe macro-economic challenges in the nation’s economy.
The results, which were released to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), revealed that the company reported operating profit of N23.4 billion, compared with N23.9 billion in 2022.
However, a massive N49.1 billion unrealised forex loss due to the Naira devaluation made Guinness Nigeria to end the year with a loss of N18.2 billion as against a profit of N15.6 billion in 2022.
According to a statement from the firm, Guinness Nigeria Plc Managing Director/CEO, John Musunga, affirmed that the earnings and revenue growth resulted from strategic pricing and successfully deploying product mix across categories to counter cost inflation, and an optimised route-to-consumer approach that improved outlet coverage and the use of its B2B platform to improve distribution efficiency. The statement also noted
that revenue growth was particularly strong for the strategic focus categories, Stout, Ready-to-Serve, and Mainstream Spirits.
“Although gross profit increased by eight per cent compared to the previous year, the cost of sales increase outpaced revenue growth primarily due to the prevailing macro-economic headwinds, specifically inflation, currency depreciation and the illiquidity of the forex market.”
The foremost brewer also reported that the company’s financial performance during the period was engendered by a number of macro-economic headwinds.
“The intense volatility in the value of the Naira and the unavailability of forex in the official foreign exchange window adversely impacted the company’s financial performance. Specifically, the Central Bank of Nigeria floated all the exchange rate windows towards the end of Q4, causing a huge devaluation of Naira from N419 to N760 to US$1, and this resulted in a massive N49.1B unrealized forex loss in the income statement,” Musunga said.
On her part, the Board Chair of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Dr. Omobola Johnson, assured the stakeholders that “despite macro-economic challenges, the Board maintains confidence in the company’s well-considered strategy, anticipating continued strong value creation for all stakeholders in the medium to long term.”
“It is a credit to management’s impressive performance, that, despite the macro-economic headwinds, the business delivered N23.4 billion underlying operating profit for the year ended June 30, 2023”, she added.
According to her, the board pledges ongoing support to the management’s efforts in building a business that consistently delivers sustainable growth for stakeholders.
