Illustrative photo of men drinking at a beer palour
Heineken first quarter results have shown that Nigerians are drinking more beer than they did this time last year.
The results, released on Wednesday, show that the volume of beer
consumed by Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, grew by 4.6 percent
in the first quarter of the year, most of the increase coming from
Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“Organic consolidated beer volume growth of 4.6% was driven by growth in Nigeria and Ethiopia,” Heineken said in its first quarter report.
“Elsewhere in the region, volume was challenging and remains
weak, with both affordability and lower tourism continuing to impact
performance. Excluding Nigeria, volume would have been down organically
for the region.
“In Nigeria volume was flattered by an easy comparative given
the election in the same period last year; cycling the forthcoming
quarters will be more difficult.”
However, the world’s third largest brewer added that the
challenging state of the Nigerian economy, as regards foreign exchange,
is impacting its business adversely.
“Underlying trading conditions remain tough and the weaker
consumer environment, due to the low global oil price, continues to
drive negative brand mix.
“It is becoming increasingly challenging to obtain hard
currency in the market, and the uncertainty regarding a possible
devaluation of the Naira continues to impact the business adversely.”
Though Nigeria claims not to be in a recession, foreign exchange
scarcity has seen some business pull out of the nation, while some
others are downsizing.
In 2015, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate
fell to a record-low at 2.8 percent, the lowest since the return of
democracy.
Inflation also surged from less than nine percent in the last quarter of 2015 to 12.77 in April 2016.
The negative outlook and economic indices are obviously not affecting Heineken consumption.
Source: TheCable
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