… As Heineken increases stakeholding
By Peter Egwuatu
Nigerian Breweries, NB Plc, has explained that it still meets the 20% requirement of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, on free float of shares despite the increase in Heineken’s stake in the company.
Free float, one of the pre listing requirements of the NGX, is the minimum percentage of shares that must be made available to the market for trading on the Exchange.
Commenting on this at the NB’s pre Annual General Meeting, AGM, and press briefing, Uaboi Agbebaku, NB’s Company Secretary, said: “The company complied with the free float requirement of the NGX for companies listed on the Main Board. We have a free float of 26.81 %. For the purpose of the company’s Right Issue, the share capital was increased to 32.88 billion by creation of additional 22.6 billion shares.
“Our Rights Issue recorded 92% success in terms of funds raised. Heineken raised its shareholding because they have confidence in Nigeria’s market.
“We commend our minority shareholders who participated in the Rights Issue. The capital base had helped us to significantly reduce our debts and strengthen our financial position.
“While some of the challenges remain, especially the debt, we would be seeking shareholders approval to amend the borrowing clause that would allow us to source for cheaper alternative funds other than banks’ borrowing”.
In his remark on the performance for the 2024 financial year, Managing Director/CEO, NB Plc, Mr. Hans Essadi, said: “Despite the challenging environment for the period the company was able to weather the storm. Economic pressures, including high inflation rates and the devaluation of the Naira, drive up operational costs and price of raw materials.
“Despite these hurdles, the company demonstrated resilience through strategic adaptations including a recapitalisation through Rights Issue, increased local sourcing, innovation, and diversification through the completion of the acquisition of majority stake in Distel Wines and Spirits Nigeria Lumite.
“Our revenue went up to over N1 trillion from N599.5 billion in 2023; operating activities increased by 53.72% to N68 billion from N44 billion; Loss before tax increased by 26.08% to N182 billion from N144 billion in 2023 and loss after tax increased by 36.47% to N144 billion from N105.7 billion in 2023.
“However, we are hopeful that with the recovering of Nigeria economy if sustained will lead to positive outlook for our company and industry.
“The projected easing of inflation is expected to be driven by a higher base effect, stabilization of FX rates and normalisation of energy prices”.
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