Guinness Holds EGM for N40bn Rights Issue

• Guinness Holds EGM for N40bn Rights Issue

Guinness Nigeria Plc is set to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on Tuesday (today), as it seeks shareholders’ approval for its planned N40bn rights issue.

The company had announced at the end of 2016 its intention to offer a rights issue as part of plans to optimise its balance sheet and improve its financial flexibility.

The EGM, the brewer said in a statement on Monday, would set the scene for the company to raise up to N40bn.

Guinness Nigeria, subsidiary of Diageo Plc, was established in 1960 and has a base of over 70, 000 local and international shareholders.

Guinness Nigeria last year became the first total beverage company when it acquired rights to distribute international premium spirits like Johnnie Walker and Baileys in Nigeria in January 2016 and later commissioned a spirits line for locally manufactured spirits at its Benin plant in November.

This week, the company is also expected to release its first-half results for the six-month period ending December 30, 2016.