The payout is against a backdrop of a combination of higher volumes in bottled beer and mix improvement across brands and categories, which delivered higher margins for the year ended June 2019.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – The board of East African Breweries will pay a final dividend of Sh6 per share to bring total dividend for the year to Sh8.50 per share, marking an increase from the Sh7.50 it paid a year ago.
The payout is against a backdrop of a combination of higher volumes in bottled beer and mix improvement across brands and categories, which delivered higher margins for the year ended June 2019.
As such, the company posted Sh17.8 billion in pre-tax profit for the year ended June 2019, compared to Sh11.7 billion posted last financial year.
Group CEO Andrew Cowan says the growth was driven by continued focus on a broader, sharper commercial execution, and accelerated marketing investment.
Net revenue was up by 12 percent to Sh82.5 billion, supported by broad-based performance across markets and segments.
Net sales in Kenya, which is the Group’s largest market, were up by 13 percent buoyed by growth in mainstream spirits, scotch and senator keg.
“This performance is a result of a sharpened strategic focus in the financial year, which has helped us leverage a more positive external environment, compared to the previous period. The achievement of this growth should set us off on a sustainable trajectory to deliver a better, broad-based growth across categories and markets in East Africa, where we continue gain returns on our investments and generate shareholder value,” he said.
Cowan added that the company is on track to increase utilization of the new Sh14 billion brewery in Kisumu which has started producing Senator keg.
Uganda’s net sales increased by 8 percent, largely driven by the double-digit growth in premium and mainstream beet at 24 percent and 33 percent respectively.
Tanzania reported robust performance for the second successive tear, with net sales up by 20 percent.
Going forward, the company says it plans to put in more investments to boost capacity and improve production efficiencies and minimize negative impact on the environment.
