Competition made us sell Sona Brewery to NB Plc- Sona Group MD
Sona Group of Industries has said that it decided to sell Sona Breweries, its flagship subsidiary, to Nigerian Breweries in 2010, as a result of the intense competition in the brewery segment of the Nigerian market.
The Group Managing Director, Sona Group of Industries, Ajai Musaddi told MARKETING EDGE that the competition between the leading brewery brands like Nigerian Breweries, Guinness Nigeria and others persuaded his company to divest its interest in the Ota based outfit.
He added that Sona Group which runs close to 10 subsidiaries, also thought it wise to focus its resources on other thriving subsidiaries, instead of getting involved in the thug-of-war between the brewery brands. According to market survey, the brewery segment of the Nigeria market is responsible for a huge chunk of annual ad spend.
“For 16 years we ran Sona Brewery. Our beer Goldberg, Life and others, were produced with 100 percent sorghum. We never used any single grain of imported barley from anywhere, yet our brands were very popular and very accepted by Nigerians.
“There was a lot of competition going on in the brewery segment. Because of the competition we said we must not involved ourselves so much in the competition, we decided to diversify into other businesses. We also had some other business and wanted to focus more, or start something new.”
Mussadi disclosed that Goldberg and Life beer and other value brands former on the stable of Sona Breweries have continue to perform well and have been largely responsible for helping NB Plc post strong growth despite the recession. This view was earlier corroborated by frontline brands and market analyst Lampe Omoyele who said that success of value brands have been the main reason why NB plc declared profit in 2015.
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