Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) yesterday announced its condensed consolidated interim financial results for the period ended 30 June 2024.
Over the period, NBL delivered well on its strategy for the Heineken transaction, as the company’s diverse portfolio experienced volume growth in all beverage categories.
At the same time, NBL continued to manage cash efficiently, given high capital expenditure, higher debt levels and challenging market conditions.
Net revenue increased by 19.8% to N$4.057 billion due to strong growth in the wine, cider and spirits portfolio, coupled with market share gains in beer. During the second half of the year, the company’s contributions from South Africa showed improvement, while export revenue slowed.
In addition, fixed cost ratios improved and this was brought about by the integrated businesses of Distell and NBL. The expanded portfolio provided more opportunities to meet consumer needs, while the company’s operating profit increased by 10.6% to N$466 million compared to N$421 million in 2023.
Net profit after tax declined by over 90% year-on-year, primarily due to significant one-off gains in 2023 from the sale of shares in Heineken South Africa. Excluding these gains, normalised profit after tax, measured by headline earnings per share, saw a 3.3% decrease, attributed to increased financing and taxation costs.
This positive financial growth was achieved through NBL’s strong emphasis on the fundamentals of its core business, while the acquired portfolio benefited from improved numeric distribution, effective price management, sustainable cost management as well as integrated planning and supply.
NBL’s managing director Peter Simons stated: “As a Namibian business dedicated to boosting the local economy, we’ve made great performance milestones. Among these include N$1.6 billion in total corporate taxes, customs and excise paid out last year, capital of N$337 million invested into the commissioning of our new wine packaging line, a total of N$44 million invested to improve existing packaging lines, extended our warehouse to the tune of N$56 million and to grow the capacity of our workforce, a further N$3,2 million was spent in development and training.”
In the coming six months, NBL plans to continue optimising its combined brands, infrastructure and people. Synergies are further expected to bolster margins, balancing price sensitivity impacts on revenue, while an expanding data set will enable the business to anticipate competitive market trends, going forward, to capitalise on further growth opportunities.