Nigerian Breweries declares N7.7bn dividend, offers new shares option for shareholders

Nigerian Breweries (NB), Nigeria’s biggest beer maker by market size, has announced a total dividend of N7.71 billion for its shareholders for full-year 2020.

This represents a 52 percent decrease from N16.1 billion declared in 2019.

The company also gave shareholders the option to receive additional shares instead of cash dividend.

The brewing company said it had earmarked the entire net profit of N7.5 billion recorded in 2020 for payout to shareholders as cash dividends.

Speaking at the pre-annual general meeting (AGM) media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, Jordi Borrut Bel, managing director of NB, said the 100 percent dividend payout recommendation is a demonstration of the company’s strong performance for the financial year-end 2020.

Borrut Bel said NB emerged as the only brewer in Nigeria to record a profit in a difficult year.

The brewing company’s result for year 2020 showed that it made a profit of N7.52 billion and a net revenue of N337.01 billion as against the N323 billion recorded in 2019.

“Business performance was quite impressive especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession,” Borrut Bel said.

“Though there was a slight reduction in profitability compared to the previous year, the business witnessed an improved growth in revenue. The significance of this is that business became more stable and healthier.”

The MD explained that the improved performance for 2020 could largely be attributed to the massive decline in both administrative, marketing and distribution expenses for the financial year compared to 2019.

He said the marketing and distribution expenses dropped from N77.70 billion in 2019 to N70.7 billion in 2020, administrative expenses declined by 1.79 percent from N19.30 billion to N18.96 billion.

He further said NB maintained a strong and healthy balance sheet despite other operating challenges coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic that affected businesses generally.

Borrut Bel assured stakeholders that the company remains committed to ensuring that the health, safety and welfare of its employees, customers and partners are protected.