Guinness: Revenue Growth, Finance Cost Reduction Boost Profits

Kayode Tokede

With a significant increase in revenue and decline in finance cost, Guinness Nigeria Plc announced one of its best results in many years to signpost the management’s understanding of business environment and consumers’ purchasing power in Nigeria.

The audited financial statement for full year ended June 30, 2022 showed about 29 per cent increase in revenue to N206.82billion from N160.42billion in 2021.

The breakdown of revenue showed a 28.9 per cent increase in Nigeria’s revenue to N204.87billion from N158.95billion reported in 2021, while revenue from Export rose significantly by 33 per cent to N1.95billion from N1.47billion in 2021.

The company’s high volume and value growth in 2022 half year performance was owing to post-covid surge in demand on its Guinness, Malta, RTD, Main Stream Spirit (MSS), among others.

In 2022, revenue from Guinness rose by 23 per cent to N69.5billion from N56.58billion reported in 2021, while revenue from Malta rose by 74 per cent to N60.72billion in 2022 from N34.97billion in 2021.

In addition, revenue from MSS rose by 34 per cent to N32.7billion in 2022 from N24.39billion in 2021, while IPS gained 19 per cent to N13.82billion in 2022 from N11.57billion in 2021.

cost of sales

From the loss and profit figures, cost of sales rose by 17 per cent to N134.16billion in 2022 from N114,71hillion in 2021 to positioned gross profit to N72.66billion in 2022, representing an increase of 59per cent from N45.71billion reported in 2021.

To mitigate the impact of the challenging environment, the company said it took bold & deliberate price increases, sustained stakeholder engagement and continued investment in community impact. 

The company leveraged on gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment that rose by 502.9per cent to N1.69billion in 2022 from N280.9million in 2021 and the sale of by-products that rose by 73per cent to N665.09million in 2022 from N385.48million in 2021 to report N2.74billion non-core business income in 2022 from N1.03billion reported in 2021.

Total operating expenses, thus, rose 40.3 per cent to N51.06billion in 2022 from N36.38billion in 2021.

The increase in total operating expenses was driven by 43 per cent hike in marketing and distribution expenses to N37.34billion in 2022 and 33 per cent increase in administrative expenses that moved from N10.32billion in 2021 to N13.71billion in 2022.

As finance income rose by 259per cent to N1.9billion in 2022 from N529.16million in 2021, finance cost dropped by 54 per cent to N2.13billion in 2022 from N4.63billion in 2021, as the management loss on remeasurement of foreign currency balances dropped to N1.16billion in 2022 from N2.53billion reported in 2021.

 In all, Guinness Nigeria closed 2022 financial year with N23.67billion profit before tax, an increase of 310per cent from N5.77billion in 2021. With about 77.7per cent increase in tax expenses to N8.02billion, profit after tax hits N15.65billion in 2022, the highest declared by the multinational company.

The increase in profit gave the management to reward shareholders with a dividend pay-out of 46kobo in 2022, totalled N1.01billion on 2,190,382,819 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

The shares of Guinness Nigeria in 2022 have enjoyed a positive run since the beginning of the year. The brewery firm listed on the NGX and the second most capitalized brewery after Nigerian Breweries has gained 132.05per cent in price from N39.00 to N90.50 as of July 29, 2022 when the full year ended June 30, 2022 financial year results was released to investing public.

The company enjoyed buy-interests, which drove up the market capitalization to gain N112.8 billion to stand at N198.23 billion at the close of trading on July 30, 2022, from the opening figure of N85.4billion at the beginning of trading on January 4th.

Profit backed by growing assets.

Guinness Nigeria grew total assets by 27 per cent to N215.66billion in 2022 from N169.41billion in 2022, following increasing in Property, plant and equipment to N97.69billion in 2022 from N94.24billion in 2021.

Also, increase in Inventories to N32billion in 2022 from N21.46billion in 2021 and Cash and cash equivalents that rose by 93 per cent to N69.1billion in 2022 from N35.9billion in 2021 played critical role in driving total assets in 2022.

However, total equity rose by 21.12 per cent to N89.98 billion in 2022 from N74.3billion as retained earnings hits N41.44billion in 2022 from N25.74billion in 2021.

As Guinness Nigeria reported 1.8 per cent drop in total non-current liabilities to N11.95billion in 2022 from N12.16billion in 2021, total current liabilities closed 2022 at N113.73billion from N71. 83billion reported in 2021.

The 2022 performance of Guinness Nigeria revealed business expansion and growing strength in winning market share. The performance showed that the multinational company has no plans to divest it shares from Nigeria amid its growing strategic business expansion.

Increasing expansion in Nigeria

The management while reacting to what it described as, “some false, malicious, and misleading publication trending on some social media platforms falsely alleging that Guinness Nigeria is relocating out of Nigeria and therefore planning to sell its lkeja Brewery site.

The fake news had claimed that the lkeja site sale is part of an exit plan, and this falsehood is being irresponsibly circulated by faceless persons purporting to be property agents.”

Specifically, the company maintained that, “Guinness Nigeria certainly has no plans to exit Nigeria, contrary to the orchestrated false publication making the rounds. We are strong, stable, and delivering value to our esteemed stakeholders.

 “We would also like to clearly state that the malicious publication is not in tandem with our current expansion and investment drive, as we recently reaffirmed our long-term strategic expansion plans in Nigeria with the acquisition of an additional 25-acre commercial property in the Ogba industrial area of Lagos purchased recently in late 2021.”

“Contrary to the false information being circulated by detractors, we are renewed in our efforts to serve our revered consumers and creating more job opportunities for Nigerians as seen in the new $5million additional production line recently commissioned at our Brewery in Ogba, Lagos in October 2021.

The company had opened its new state-of-the-art headquarters, a modern space designed to resonate the company’s mission – ‘celebrating life, every day everywhere’ – in Ogba, Lagos.

During the ceremony, Board Chair, Guinness Nigeria, Dr. Omobola Johnson, said the new headquarters would create an environment where all employees and other stakeholders feel included and able to perform at their best.

“We recognise our employees’ needs, especially after working remotely for so long. So, we have created a modern and agile workspace designed for maximum connectivity, collaboration and connection in line with the new world of work,” Johnson said.

The Managing Director, Baker Magunda, revealed that the initiative reaffirmed the company’s commitment to its drive towards sustaining its long-term business goals in the country.

“This re-establishes Guinness Nigeria as a forward-thinking organisation. We remain committed to developing the capacity to grow our brands and optimise performance to cater to the needs of our consumers while creating the right environment for all stakeholders to thrive.

“The move represents a significant shift, not just in where we work but how we work, enabling us to eliminate boundaries, be more connected, and be more future-focused. For us, this represents ‘the future of work’. We have created an environment where all our employees feel included; our diversity and inclusion culture is enhanced and our people are empowered to maximise their full potential through effective collaborations, creativity and improved connections within the business and value chain.”

Guinness Nigeria in August 2021 had announced plans to expand its operations and production capacity in Lagos, over the next few months.

The country’s foremost Total Beverage Company has now completed the acquisition of 25 acres of commercial property in the Ogba industrial area of Lagos.

The Managing Director Guinness Nigeria Plc, Baker Magunda in a statement reaffirming the company’s overarching strategy and expansion plans, describing it as a reflection of its belief in the Nigerian economy and ongoing commitment to the country’s development.

He said: “This bold acquisition comes with an ambitious investment plan of expanding our production capacity and operations in Nigeria. We remain steadfast in our commitment to Nigeria’s growth and development while enhancing our shareholders value in the long term. It is also part of our strategy to optimize our production assets and thereby ensure improved operational efficiency leading to greater value for our shareholders”.

He added, “On completion of this phase of our expansion, we will be increasing our capacity to meet the growing demand for our products while creating more opportunities for Nigerians, in addition to the over 180,000 jobs we currently support directly and indirectly in our value chain.”