NB remains committed to long term value creation for shareholders — CEO
By Kayode Tokede
The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel has expressed that the foremost brewer company, remains committed to long term value creation for its shareholder and have the right strategy to achieve this.
Speaking at the Pre- AGM media briefing held in Lagos on Wednesday, he said the multinational company has the history, footprint, brand portfolio and people to capture the expected growth in Nigeria.
He noted that last year, the company’s performance was adversely impacted by COVID-19, Value Added Tax (VAT) increase, foreign exchange devaluation and scarcity of foreign exchange.
He expressed that the company’s position in the market enabled to it mitigate the impact in third quarter (Q3) of last year.
NB in 2020 financial year ended December 31, 2020 recommended a total dividend of N7.71 billion for its shareholders.
The recommendation, which amounts to a total dividend of N0.94 per ordinary share of 50kobo each, represents a 100 per cent payout.
Borrut Bel described the 100 per cent dividend payout recommendation as a demonstration of its strong performance for the financial year-end 2020, where it emerged as the only brewer to record a profit in a difficult year.
An analysis of the company’s results also shows that apart from delivering a profit of N7.52 billion, it also recorded a net revenue of N337.01 billion for the 2020 financial year as against N323.00 billion recorded in 2019.
“Business performance was quite impressive especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession,” Borrut Bel stated.
“Though there was a slight reduction in profitability compared to the previous year, the business witnessed an improved growth in revenue. The significance of this is that business became more stable and healthier.”
He further explained that the improved performance for the year could largely be attributed to the massive decline in both Administrative, Marketing and Distribution expenses for the financial year relative to the previous year.
According to him, while marketing and distribution expenses experienced a dip from N77.70billion in 2019 to N70.7billion in this financial year, administrative expenses experienced a 1.79 per cent decline from N19.30billion to N18.96billion, which was largely informed by the elimination of bad costs.
Borrut Bel stated that despite other operating challenges coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic that affected businesses generally, the company maintained a strong and healthy balance sheet.
He assured stakeholders that the company remains committed to ensuring that the health, safety and welfare of its employees, customers and partners are protected.
Speaking on NB outlook for this year, he said, “For 2021, we will strive to sustain the performance of the 2nd half of 2020, driving premiumisation and growth, however we still expect to have a challenging operating environment with devaluation, inflation and affordability.
“The capabilities of our people, focus on our consumers combined with a commercial agility and position for growth gives us confidence to continue to Winning with Nigeria.”
