Sierra Leone: Heineken subsidiary cuts operations because of Ebola outbreak

Heineken NV’s unit in Sierra Leone has sent staff home and halted expansion plans as it joins a growing number of companies cutting operations in the West African nations hit hardest by an outbreak of Ebola, Bloomberg reported on October 20.

“The Ebola virus disease has severely affected our operations in terms of sales, production and manpower,” said Aminata Kasim-Carew, spokeswoman for Sierra Leone Brewery Ltd. Sales have dropped 70 percent, she said, without giving details. “Most of our staff has been sent on leave.”

The outbreak, which has killed 4,400 people mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since it was first reported in December, is the deadliest on record. Airlines including British Airways halted flights, mining and agriculture companies delayed production and governments have slashed economic growth forecasts as they battle to contain the disease.

Sierra Leone needs as much as $1 billion to cover Ebola expenses and the growth outlook for this year was cut to between 7 percent and 8 percent from an earlier forecast of 14 percent, Finance Minister Kaifala Marah said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Africa on Oct. 11.

President Ernest Bai Koroma ordered nightclubs and video centers to close on Aug. 7 because of Ebola.

While the brewery’s workers who were sent home are being paid, some 24,000 jobs are at risk when distributors, transporters and other contractors are factored in, Kasim-Carew said in an Oct. 16 interview in Freetown, the capital. The company also works with 600 sorghum farmers, she said.

Heineken, based in Amsterdam, owns about 83 percent of the beer maker. Africa and the Middle East accounted for about 14 percent of the company’s revenue in the first half of the year from 13 percent in the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Sierra Leonean brewer, which produces Star and Heineken brand lagers, planned to invest 52.9 billion leones ($12 million) in operations including machinery, Kasim-Carew said. Projects that were started are now on hold, she said.

“When we started installing these plants, Ebola came in and so we had to put on hold all these installation projects,” she said. Last month, the brewery donated 633 million leones to the government to fight the disease, she said. “Ebola is scary for investment. We hope the country can find a solution.”

22 October, 2014