Shareholders approve Guinness Nigeria N1.008bn dividend

Shareholders of Guinness Nigeria Plc have approved the N1.00 8billion dividend declared and recommend­ed by the board of the company at the 71st Annual General Meeting held in Lagos.

This is coming as the company recorded a 54 per cent increase in revenue for the year ended June 30, 2021.

Dr Omobola Johnson, the Chair, Board of Directors, Guinness Ni­geria Plc, while appreciating the support of the shareholders, main­tained that the company will keep up with its growth strategy to con­tinue on its path of profitability.

He said: “We are confident that our strategy is comprehensive and robust. We are keen on making the right investments that will drive growth across board and ensure our competitiveness, despite the challenging business environment.

“We thank our shareholders for their confidence in the Board and Management of our dear company and we are committed to ensure that we sustain the momentum”.

Johnson further explained that at the heart of Guinness’ success is innovation.

“As a company, we keep tasking ourselves regarding innovation and how best to satisfy our consumers with our innovative products. An example is the recent launch of Orijin Tigernut and Ginger; an exciting new variant of the Orijin brand to expand profitability for the brand, while catering to a younger, vibrant demography of consumers. As the only Total Beverage Alcohol Company in Nigeria, we are proud of the legacies of our iconic brands and we hope to keep on turning out products that will make our con­sumers happy and satisfied.

“We are also glad that our prom­ise to you last year is being fulfilled as we have been able to implement our strategies and improve on rev­enue projections as manifested in our financial results. The Board will continue to support the Man­agement in its efforts to sustain global best practices aimed at consistently delivering business growth for stakeholders”, she said.

Mr. Baker Magunda, Managing Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, expressed his confidence in the company’s outlook for the future emphasizing that some key strate­gic decisions of the company in the last year increases the chances of the company’s journey to sustained profitability.

“The performance of fiscal year 2021 showed that the business deliv­ered growth despite the challenging external environment character­ized by COVID-19 restrictions and high inflation. Our strategic ob­jectives will continue to ensure we leverage local opportunities, create value and empowerment through local sourcing, while taking oppor­tunities that will grow revenue and protect our margins.” He added.

Reacting on behalf of the share­holders, the National Chairman, New Dimension Shareholders Asso­ciation of Nigeria, Patrick Ajudua, noted that the financials for the year has shown a new dimension, growth and that Guinness is being repositioned from a huge negative loss to a profit in their bottom time.

“We hope that it will be sus­tained overtime, going by the fact that we have a lot of problems in the economy and the Covid-19, our expectations are very high and from what we have heard from the man­agement, they are equal to the task of meeting the expectations of the stakeholders” Ajudua noted.

Barrister Adetutu Shiobola, who represented the Highly Fa­voured Shareholders Association, also expressed satisfaction with the management’s stellar performance, noting that the company was mov­ing from a loss to a profit this year, from negative to positive accounts.

Independent