Guinness Nigeria Speaks on 2020 Poor Performance

Guinness Nigeria Plc has blamed the challenging business environment amid COVID-19 restrictions that led to the closure of bars, clubs, lounges and restaurants for its 2020 losses.

Mr. Baker Magunda, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria, who spoke on the company’s performance in 2020, said the aforementioned represents a major part of the company’s consumption, adding that restriction imposed on gathering impacted the usual demands for celebratory occasions.

He explained that demand was weighed upon by a decline in consumer income, rising unemployment rate due to the shutdown of large corporations, surged in VAT and excise throughout 2020.

According to him, distribution was affected by the ban imposed on inter-state travel despite collaborating with regulatory authorities to minimize the negative impact on the company.

Here is a breakdown of the Guinness Nigeria performance in 2020 Financial Year

Guinness profit plunged by a massive 129.1 percent to -N12.6 billion in the 2020 Financial Year (FY), down from the N5.5 billion profit achieved in 2019 (FY). While the company’s gross profit nosedive by 16.9 percent from N40.13 billion posted in 2019 to N33.33 billion in 2020.

The company decline was broad-based as revenue also declined from N131.5 billion filed in 2019 to N104.4 billion in the 2020 financial year.

Accordingly, administrative cost rose from N9.9 billion in the 2019 financial year to N14.3 billion in 2020. However, the cost of sales moderated by 22 percent from N91.4 billion posted in 2019 to N71.1 billion in 2020.

Finance cost expanded from N2.6 billion in 2019 to N4.5billion in 2020 while finance income declined to N301 million in the year under review, down from N750.9 million in 2019.

Mr. Baker Magunda, said “The last quarter performance of fiscal 2020 was significantly impacted by restrictions due to COVID-19, exacerbating the already challenging economic environment. Closures of on-trade premises (bars, lounges, clubs, and dine-in restaurants), which represents the major part of the consumption occasion for our products and bans on celebratory occasions, impacted sales.

“Demand was also impacted by reduced consumer income, unemployment concerns due to the shutdown of a large number of businesses, and increases of VAT and excise throughout the year.”

Speaking further Magunda said, “Distribution was impacted by the ban of inter-state, and in some cases intra-state travel. Although, Management worked diligently with regulatory authorities to minimize the impact, this hampered our distributors’ ability to restock and have our brands available for purchase.”