Guinness Ireland has unveiled its first non-alcoholic lager beer as it looks to tap into a growing consumer trend of declining alcohol consumption or no alcohol consumption.
The new creation which is called ‘Pure Brew’ was developed at Diageo’s Open Gate experimental brewery at St. Jame’s Gate in Dublin. According to Guinness, the beer will be unveiled to 250 pubs in the Irish capital this January and to the rest of the country from March.
Guinness Nigeria Plc, on Tuesday received approval from its shareholders for a proposed N40bn ($127m) rights issue.
At an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Lagos on Tuesday, Guinness Nigeria’s shareholders approved the request.
Guinness Nigeria board chairman, Mr. Babatunde Savage, said the shareholders’ approval would enable the company raise up to N40bn as fresh cash injection into the business operations.
Millward Brown/WPP is out with its BrandZ World’s Top 10 beer brands for 2016.
Not surprisingly, seven out of the top ten brands are owned by either AB InBev or SABMiller, soon to be a combined company.
Guinness Nigeria Plc (“GN”) has agreed to acquire the rights to distribute McDowell’s’, a mainstream spirits brand of United Spirits Limited (USL) in Nigeria.
USL is an Indian mainstream spirits business which is also a subsidiary of Diageo Plc.
In a statement made by the company, it said the the transaction will become effective on 1st February 2016.
Diageo, the world’s largest spirit company is scrambling to reinvent itself as its famous Guinness Stout faces opposition in a largely Muslim Indonesia. The government placed a ban on alcohol sales in mini-markets and convenience stores in April. To counter the ban, the company launched a new alcohol-free Guinness made exclusively for Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest market.
Recent tide towards conservatism in Indonesia, a majority Muslim country and concerns about underage drinking caused the government to ban sales of alcohol in certain stores.
For the first time in its history, Guinness is to open its experimental brewery at its birthplace in Dublin, Ireland to the public.
Since the invention of the iconic brand over a century ago, the company has kept the workings of its experimental brewery a closely guarded secret.
