The Chairman of the Board of Guinness Nigeria, Babatunde Savage has said that the board of the brewing giant will continue to support the management in its efforts to sustain global best practices aimed at consistently delivering business growth for stakeholders.
Savage who spoke at the release of the audited results of the company for the period ended June 30, 2020 said, “We remain confident that the strategy is comprehensive and robust, and that we are making the right investments in the company to ensure our long-term competitiveness.”
Guinness Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, released its audited results for the period ended June 30, 2020. However, there was a decline of 21 per cent in revenue. According to the audited report obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the brewer’s revenue fell to N104.38bn from N131.49bn in 2019.
The company recorded a loss after tax of N12.58bn compared to a profit of N5.48bn in 2019, which it said resulted from the significant impact of COVID-19 lockdown and ongoing economic challenges.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria, Mr Baker Magunda, said, “The last quarter performance of fiscal 2020 was significantly impacted by restrictions due to COVID-19, exacerbating the already challenging economic environment.
“Closures of on-trade premises (bars, lounges, clubs and dine-in restaurants), which represent the major part of the consumption occasion for our products, and bans on celebratory occasions impacted sales. Demand was also impacted by reduced consumer income, unemployment concerns due to the shutdown of a large number of businesses, and increases of VAT and excise throughout the year.
“Distribution was further impacted by the ban of inter-state and, in some cases, intra-state travel. Although management worked diligently with regulatory authorities to minimise the impact, this hampered our distributors’ ability to restock and have our brands available for purchase.”
The company said its reaction to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 lockdown was centered around reducing risk to the business by focusing on cash delivery, reducing distributor inventories, and fast-tracking the ongoing distribution transformation project for efficient sales operations.
