The Nigerian Breweries (NB), the second largest listed Nigerian company in terms of market capitalisation, has no plans of delisting its shares from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) anytime in the future, and considers itself a Nigerian company, Nicolass Vervelde, the managing director (MD) of the company, has said.
Vervelde was speaking at the NB 2012 results presentation and conference call held last week in Lagos.
The reassurance from Vervelde should be comforting for the NSE, SEC and the Nigerian investing public as it comes after the recent high profile delisting from the local bourse by the Coca-Cola bottler, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), United Nigeria Textile Mills (UNTL) Plc and packaging company, NAMPAK.
Heineken N.V. holds a 54.10 percent stake in Nigerian Breweries plc -which may have triggered questions about delisting- and NB accounts for approximately 10.0 percent of the total sales of its parent company, a percentage which is higher than other subsidiaries of Heineken N.V.
NB is the pioneer and largest brewer in the country with a market share of 60.0 percent.
The company with a market capitalisation of N1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion) said net income for the 12 months through December was N38.1 billion ($241 million), compared with N38 billion a year earlier.
Sales rose 20 percent to N252.7 billion while the cost of sales climbed 26 percent.
Nigeria’s alcoholic beverages market is expected to continue to grow fast given the current low rate of per capita consumption compared to other African countries like South Africa.
Over the last three years the domestic brewery industry in Nigeria has seen an average growth in revenues of about 16 percent, according to Augusto & co., a rating and research firm, in its 2012 industry outlook report.
“Even as Western beer consumption slows down due to the global economic downturn, Nigeria‘s brewery industry continues to thrive due to the emergence of democracy and a growing middle class,” the report said.
Beer volumes in the country have grown as GDP per capita doubled between 2004 and 2010, moving from $644 to $1,222, according to World Bank data.
Industry analysts project volumes to increase at a compound annual growth rate CAGR of 23.45 percent between 2011 and 2014 and reach 23 million hectoliters by 2015.
PATRICK ATUANYA
