Guinness Nigeria Plc has restated its commitment to continue to explore sourcing opportunities locally.
Also, the Company said it will ensure its revenue remains on a steady growth path, in order to deliver value to its stakeholders.
Speaking to shareholders at the Company 73rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, the chair of the Board of Directors of Guinness Nigeria, Dr. Omobola Johnson said “despite the challenges in the business environment, the Company posted an impressive performance with strong growth in all our key categories for its financial year ended June 30, 2023.”
She stated that “in 2023 full year, our Company recorded a growth of 11 per cent in Revenue from N206.8 billion in 2022 to N229.4 billion. Similarly, the business delivered N23.4 billion operating profit for the year ended June 30, 2023.”
She noted that 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 in the period under review.
Johnson explained that at the heart of Guinness’ success is innovation, saying “innovation and how best to satisfy our customers with our products, are always top of mind for us at Guinness.”
She also said despite these 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.
She added that the business will continue to proactively realign and reposition itself with the required agility, to efectively adjust to the changing landscape of the FMCG sector in Nigeria.
She explained that “while we acknowledge the impact of the government’s monetary policy decision to unify the various exchange rate windows that led to the significant forex losses that hit our financials so close to the end of the 2023 financial year and affected our ability to propose payment of dividends, the Board and Management remain confident that the business remains strong and is still on course to a bright future.
“As we take learnings from full year 2023, we are confident of improved performance in 2024 financial year with the TBA strategy and focus on margin accretive categories. The business will continue to proactively improve its agility in tackling the macro-economic challenges that are bound to remain with us.”
Also, the managing director of Guinness Nigeria, John Musunga expressed confidence in the company’s continued growth, adding that “in recent years, our company has faced several challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global supply chain crisis. Despite these, we have continued to innovate and grow.
“We believe we will continue to thrive, by constantly innovating, being committed to sustainable practices, upholding corporate governance, and community engagement. These values have guided our company and will continue to guide us in the years to come.”
