Rwanda: Bralirwa’s pretax profit up 33% in 2018

Rwanda’s biggest brewer, Bralirwa Ltd, said on April 26 pretax profit rose 33 percent to 10.3 billion Rwandan francs ($11.39 million) in 2018, boosted by sales of its premium brand Mutzig, Reuters reported.

The rise in sales of premium beer offset weaker sales of its other beers and soft drinks, the beverage company, a subsidiary of Heineken N.V., said. Volumes fell by 13 percent to 1.7 billion Rwandan francs ($1.88 million) in 2018, it said.

Bralirwa is Rwanda’s oldest brewery and has the right to produce beer brands such as Amstel. It also produces branded soft drinks such as Coca-Cola.

Last year it launched local production of Heineken with a plan also to export it to neighboring countries. But Bralirwa said the strained relations between Rwanda and its neighbours Burundi and Uganda were affecting exports.

“This is something we hope will not last long. It being a landlocked country, it needs other countries for us to have access to the sea,” said Merid Demissie, its managing director.

“This is extremely important for us. The impact is not big but we definitely need those markets.”

The company exports around 5 percent of its total volume to the region but did not give specific details on exports to Burundi and Uganda.

Bralirwa said its earnings per share have risen to 5.5 Rwandan francs ($0.0061), up from 3.75 Rwandan francs ($0.0041) in 2017.

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