Nigerian Breweries reports 38.8% increase in profit to N11.5bn
By Kayode Tokede
With significant increase in net revenue, Nigerian Breweries Plc has reported 38.8 per cent increase in profit before tax to N11.5billion in its unaudited first quarter (Q1) results for period ended March 31, 2021 from N8.3 billion reported in first quarter of 2020.
The multinational breweries company on the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Friday reported net revenue of N105.7billion in Q1 2021 from N83.23billion reported in Q1 2020.
About 212.5 per cent decline in finance income and 103.3 per cent increase in non-core business transaction also contributed to growth in profit in the period under review.
Nigerian Breweries reported finance income of N25million in Q1 2021 from N8million reported in Q1 2020 while non-core business transactions closed Q1 2021 at N368million from N181million reported in Q1 2020.
The Company Secretary, Nigerian Breweries, Uaboi Agbebaku in a signed statement, said “The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and by implication, the Company continued during the period under review.
“Our priority remained protecting the health, safety and welfare of employees, customers and partners.
“We regularly monitored and evaluated the Company’s financial position and performance in the light of the pandemic; our Balance Sheet remained strong.
“The focus of the Board and Management remained the mitigation of the impact of the pandemic on the business.”
The company’s shareholders at the 75th Annual General Meeting (AGM) approved dividend of N7.52 billion for the 2020 financial year.
The Corporate Affairs Director of the company, Mrs. Sade Morgan in a statement said the company assured the shareholders of its commitment to continually improve returns on their investments.
Morgan said the shareholders noted at the AGM that the total dividend payout came as a result of the exceptional performance recorded by the company for the 2020 financial year.
They stated that the 2020 results contained in the audited report and the 100 per cent dividend payout was a strong reflection of the company’s stability as well as its resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and operating challenges in the economy.
Morgan said one of the shareholders, Mr Boniface Okezie, who spoke at the meeting, hailed the board and management of Nigerian Breweries Plc for helping to maintain a strong and healthy balance sheet amidst recession and inflation that had affected businesses and the Nigerian economy in general.
According to Okezie, the fact that the company remained competitive despite the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, demonstrates the uniqueness of the cost-saving measures deployed.
“Despite the impact of the recession and COVID-19 pandemic, the company still maintained stability. This goes to show the quality of leadership at the company.
“I must confess that the board and management have done well to keep to the promise of paying dividends. We can only hope that they keep up the tempo so that we can receive higher dividends in the next financial year,” Okezie said.
Shareholders who were in attendance expressed appreciation to the board and management of the company for “exhibiting the great capacity to keep the company going and stable, amid challenges,” said the statement.
It added that the shareholders hailed the company for making a total dividend payment at a time when most listed companies found it hard to pay dividends to their shareholders.
The statement said Chief Kola Jamodu, the NB Chairman, explained that each shareholder would receive a final dividend of N0.69k at an ordinary share of 50k, haven received an interim dividend of 25k.
On his part, the Company Secretary/Legal Director, Mr Uaboi Agbebaku said the 2020 financial year recorded a significant boost in sales volume, though the cost of sales rose from N191.76 billion to N218.36 billion.
Agbebaku who was optimistic about the growth of the company going forward, noted that it would continue to give utmost priority to the welfare of its shareholders in its decision making.
The statement said a breakdown of the company’s audited results showed that its profit after tax (PAT) for 2020 stood at N7.52 billion while net revenue increased sharply from N323 billion to 337.01 billion between 2019 and 2020, representing a 4.3 per cent rise.
