Guinness Nigeria Plc, said on Tuesday that revenue for the full-year ended 30th June 2017 grew 23% to ₦126bn ($348m), up from ₦102bn ($282m) in the previous year.

The maker of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and Dubic Lager said it returned to profitability for the first time in four quarters, posting a profit of ₦1.9bn ($5.2m), from a loss of ₦2bn.

Commenting on the results, Guinness Nigeria’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Peter Ndegwa said that the company’s results were driven by a relentless focus on executing its strategy and keeping costs down.

“Despite the challenging economic conditions, we have remained focused on executing our company’s total beverage strategy which gained further traction with strong growth in our international premium spirits portfolio following our first full year of distribution.”

The company acquired the rights to distribute Diageo’s International Premium Spirits (IPS) brands and United Spirits’ McDowell’s whisky in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Later in 2016, it invested ₦4.7bn (£12m) to add a spirits line in its Benin City, Edo State plant. This enabled the firm to bottle the IPS brands and McDowell’s locally to effectively compete  with locally made spirits.

Ndegwa credits the volume increase to pricing benefits and a favourable sale mix as the company continued to invest in its expanded brand portfolio during the year.

Looking to the future, the MD said that the company remains committed to executing its productivity agenda with a strong focus on cost reduction, distribution and operational efficiencies.”