Guinness Nigeria Plc on Wednesday reported a strong revenue growth of 29% to ₦90bn in the 9-months to 31 March 2017, up from ₦70bn in the previous year.
However, the company was stung by an inflationary environment and continuing currency devaluation which drove up the cost of goods sold by 47% to ₦60bn. A higher net finance cost that rose 177% to ₦6.7bn due to unrealized foreign exchange loss added to the brewer’s woes
PepsiCo received a strong boost in earnings as higher prices helped lift first quarter results. The company best known for its Pepsi cola brand said that revenue grew 2% to $12bn in the first three months of the year, while profits jumped 41% to $1.32bn, from $931m in the previous year.
The soda giant said that there was a strong demand for its healthier drinks and snacks and it also kept a lid on costs as selling and administrative expenses fell 5% from the previous year’s period.
Nigerian Breweries Plc, said it would ramp up efforts to source local raw materials as well as look for further improvements in its sorghum value-chain as a way of lessening the impact of foreign exchange challenges it faced during the 2016 financial year.
The country’s largest brewer added that it would be consolidating its earnings and profitability through improved market penetration with its innovative products, noting that it would carefully look at its price adjustment mechanism to ensure a balance in the management of input costs and price consumers are willing to pay for its products.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said on Tuesday that revenue for the first quarter ending on March 31, 2017 fell by 11% to $9.1bn, while profit dropped 20% to $1.18bn. The poor performance was blamed on headwinds related to acquisitions, divestitures and costs associated with the ongoing North American bottling refranchising programme, as well as foreign exchange headwinds.
