Guinness Nigeria sheds off 216% due to N18.2bn loss
By Felicia Nwosu
Guinness Nigeria Plc, in its audited result, has reported that it shed off 216%. This is due to the fact that the company made a year loss of N18.168 billion for the period ended June 30, 2023, as against N15.651 billion profit in the preceding year 2022.
Although the company demonstrated a resilient growth in the face of the harsh economy as an indication of a higher proportion of its revenue growth.
This is according to the result submitted at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), which showed that the company recorded a loss despite an increase in revenue.
Also, Guinness net finance costs skyrocketed to N45.496 billion from N225.899 million in 2022, where its accounted loss before income tax was N22.138 billion as against profit before tax of N23.674 billion in 2022.
John Musunga, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc, explained 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.
“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,” he said.
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.”
The Board Chair of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Dr. Omobola Johnson, expressed optimism noting that the company was dogged enough to have pulled through the hostility of the business environment.
“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 reiterated that the board is committed to its ongoing support to the management’s efforts in building a business that consistently delivers sustainable growth for stakeholders.
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