Guinness Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest brewer, said profit fell 83 per cent in the nine months through to the end of March during a downturn in Africa’s largest economy.
Earnings after tax were 864 million naira ($4.35 million) in the period, compared with 5.2 billion naira a year earlier, the local unit of Diageo Plc said in a statement on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s website. Revenue dropped 18 per cent to 69.6 billion naira.
While the company didn’t comment on its results, Nigeria has been hammered by oil prices falling 60 per cent since mid-2014 to about $45 a barrel. The economy grew 2.8 per cent last year, the slowest pace since 1999. The International Monetary Fund said last month it will probably drop further to 2.3 per cent this year.
Guinness Nigeria’s shares fell 1.8 per cent to 98 naira by 1:04 pm in Lagos, the commercial capital. The stock is down 42 per cent since the start of 2015, compared with 28 per cent for the Nigerian All Share Index. Nigerian Breweries Plc, the biggest beer maker and controlled by Heineken NV, has fallen 36 per cent in that period.
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