Nigerian Breweries Reports 17% Drop in PAT in 2019

• Nigerian Breweries Reports 17% Drop in PAT in 2019

The Nigerian Breweries Plc reported a 17 percent or N3.3 billion dropped in Profit After Tax (PAT) from N19.4 billion in 2018 to N16.1 billion in the 2019 financial year.

In the audited financial results released through the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company’s total revenue dropped by 0.4 percent to N323 billion in 2019, against the N324.4 billion recorded in 2018.

The company’s profit before tax declined by 20.5 percent from N29.3 billion in 2018 to N23.3 billion in the year under review.

Nigerian Breweries attributed the poor performance to an increase in operating costs as well as the challenging business environment.

Speaking on the performance, Chief Executive Officer, Jean-François Boxmeer, said: “Nigeria is my most difficult thing for the moment, to be honest. It is a listed company so you can follow it. The market is growing better, so that is the good news. Pricing is not going anywhere. We have increased last year our prices in November if I recall well, and we just did it again in January but that is because of a VAT increase. Our bigger competitor in the world … recently announced that it will not increase the prices before March. It remains a very tense competitive environment. I do not know where we are going there. We hold up our share. We are still the market leader.”

The company proposed a dividend payout of N1.51 per ordinary share of 50 kobo each for the financial year ended 31, December 2019.