Nigeria: Nigerian Breweries' Q3 profit up 139 %

Nigerian Breweries Plc, the largest brewing company in Nigeria and a subsidiary of Dutch brewer Heineken has reported the unaudited financial results for the third quarter to the end of September 2005, the Nigerian Stock Exchange released on November 24. The company has recorded a turnover of 58,460 million Nigerian Naira (EUR 380 million) compared to 52,550 million Nigerian Naira (EUR 341.7 million) in Q3 2004. The profit after tax was of 5,980 million Nigerian Naira (EUR 38.9 million) compared to 2,500 million Nigerian Naira (EUR 16.3 million) in Q3 2004.
(1 EUR=153.79 NGN; 1 USD=130.45 NGN)

The directors have proposed an interim dividend of 0.25 naira, payable on Dec. 20 to shareholders in the register by Dec. 12, 2005.

Nigerian Breweries Plc. the pioneer and largest brewing company in Nigeria, was incorporated in 1946 and recorded a landmark when the first bottle of STAR Lager beer rolled off the bottling lines in its Lagos Brewery in June, 1949. This was followed by Aba Brewery, which was commissioned in 1957, Kaduna Brewery in 1963 and Ibadan Brewery in 1982. In September 1993, the company acquired its fifth brewery in Enugu. On April 9, 2001, It recently christened the AMA Greenfield brewery in Enugu; the largest in Africa. The brewery will be commissioned in October 2003. Thus, from its humble beginning in 1946, the company now has five operational breweries from which its high quality products are distributed to all parts of this great country.

Nigerian Breweries Plc has a rich portfolio of high quality brands: Star Lager Beer (1949); Guider Lager Beer (1970); Maltina (1976) which now has four varieties, (Maltina Classic, Maltina Strawberry, Maltina Exotic and Maltina with Pineapple), Legend Extra Stout (1992); Amstel Malta (1994) and the Schweppes range of carbonated soft drinks launched in December 1996 (Schweppes Bitter Lemon, Schweppes Tonic water and Schweppes Soda Water). This was followed by the launch of Crush Orange in November 1997 and Schweppes Pineapple in October 1999. The Company had earlier launched into the Nigerian market Heineken Lager in June 1998. However, in August 2001, the company decided to exit the carbonated soft drinks market because of the need to concentrate on its area of core competence. The Schweppes franchise was therefore sold off.

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