Nigeria: Shares of Guinness Nigeria Plc up 47.07% in March

Shares of Guinness Nigeria Plc in March increased by a whopping 47.07% following sustained buying pressures in the company shares, the Nairametrics reported on April 5.

This move led to a total of N23.8 billion increase in the market capitalization of the brewing company in March.

Data tracked on the Nigerian Stock Exchange website revealed that the market capitalization of Guinness Nigeria Plc rose from N50.5 billion on the 26th of February to N74.3 billion on the 31st of March.

The impressive 47.07% increase in the share price of Guinness was driven by investors buying interest in the shares of the brewer.

The buying interest (driven by the expectation of a sustained reopening of the on-trade channel as restaurants and bars reopen) has seen the shares of the company gain about 78% year-to-date.

The NSE Consumer Goods Index, an investable benchmark designed to track the performance of consumer goods companies like Guinness, depreciated by 3.71% in March following sustained sell down in the shares of listed consumer goods companies on the NSE.

The bearish performance of the index was driven by the decline in the shares of NNFM, Champion Breweries, PZ, NB, Dangote Sugar, and eight others; while shares of Guinness Nigeria Plc and Vitafoam returned a gain of 47.07% and 7.10% for investors respectively.

Guinness Nigeria Plc in its last quarterly filings revealed that the company made a profit of N524.2 million in the second quarter of its accounting period 2020/21.

During the quarter, the brewer’s revenue increased by a single digit 2.17% year-on-year, however, the rising cost of sales, the increase in administrative expenses, and finance costs pressured Guinness’s profit down 68.9% year-on-year.

04 April, 2021