Excellent volume growth in South Africa, encouraging exports and sound cost management delivered strong results for Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) for the year ended 30 June 2022. The impressive results are despite a decline in Namibian beer volumes.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show NBL’s net revenue increased by 14.1% to N$3.021 billion, even as Namibian beer volumes declined by 1.5% as inflationary pressure across all sectors of the domestic economy continued to stretched disposable income for consumers.
Announcing the annual results released last Friday, NBL’s Managing Director (MD) Marco Wenk said Covid-19 related restrictions between July 2021 to December 2021 further negatively impacted volumes in Namibia.
“Overall volumes for NBL increased by 12%, beer volumes in Namibia decreased by 1.5% against 2021, while volumes to South Africa increased by 60.6% compared to the prior financial year. This resulted in operating profit increasing by 8.9% to the prior year,” Wenk explained.
He added NBL’s share of associate loss from the prior financial year turned positive, as Heinekein SA was able to trade without any significant Covid-19 related restrictions, delivering N$54 million equity income for the period. The group’s board did not declare any dividend hiwever, which is in accordance with the conditions of the potential Heineken SA disposal transaction.
Wenk concluded that NBL continues to be well-positioned to meet a volatile demand curve in production volumes to SA where their Windhoek brand has significant opportunity for growth.
“NBL will continue to focus on further growing our brands both locally and beyond our borders while innovating into new liquids based on consumer preferences and demand. The next year will see significant investment in upgrading and expanding our production facilities to be ready for future growth and demand,” said Wenk.
At the same occasion, NBL Financial Director, Waldemar von Lieres, noted that the group’s performance for the 2022 financial year period was very encouraging despite a challenging operating environment.
He indicated that overall margin percentages were lower due to the significant increases in South Africa volumes, which affected the mix of products sold, as well as the extraordinary cost increases that have impacted businesses world-wide.
“Heineken SA volumes for the year were very encouraging, which resulted in royalties for NBL increasing by 35% to N$147 million, while the equity loss from associates turned positive, delivering N$57 million equity income for the period,” von Lieres explained.