PREMIUM TIMES
Nigeria’s largest beer maker Nigerian Breweries posted N145.3 billion in pre-tax loss for last year, its biggest since opening shop in the country in 1946.
The beer maker recorded the loss after taking a hit from foreign exchange in a year during which the naira lost more than half its value.
The brewer, 50 per cent of whose input costs are imported and denominated in foreign currencies, incurred N153.3 billion in net loss on FX transactions compared to N26.3 billion a year ago, throwing the bottom line into a negative position.
Revenue climbed 8.9 per cent to approximately N600 billion, according to its audited earnings report issued Friday and seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
“The redesign of the naira notes which resulted in cash shortage that severely hampered social and economic activities nationwide set the tone for a turbulent year,” the local unit of Netherlands’ Heineken Brouwerijen B.V. said in a separate document on Friday.
“High double-digit inflation rates (with food inflation at more than 30%), removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit (fuel), devaluation of the naira, and foreign exchange scarcity further exacerbated the already difficult environment for the populace and businesses.”
