Princewill Ekwujuru & Folorunsho Abodunrin

Guinness Nigeria Plc has released it’s sales report for the year 2010, which it puts at N109 billion, an increase of 23 percent over the previous year.

The company also said her trading profit increased by 5 percent to N20.8 billion, whilst it’s earning per share was on the upward swing by 1.4 percent which is 931 kobo.

Devlin Hainsworth, Managing Director, Guinness Nigeria at the pre- AGM of the company said the continued performance of it’s brands were responsible for the growth witnessed, which he said was driven by it’s sterling outing in the beer and malt drink market, leading to the double digit increase in it’s turn-over and overall market share gain.

The Managing Director noted that marketing spend increased significantly during the year to strengthen it’s brands equity. “Our innovation agenda especially around canned drinks brought our brands to new consumers and into new occasions.”

Hainsworth never doubted that operating environment was not challenging, including the liquidity squeeze which affected customers, suppliers and other key partners in the value chain, he said.

He said despite the challenges, the company has continued to support it’s brands, focusing on widening its route to the market, as well as deepening our marketing investments.

On the other hand, thecompany said it is committed to  its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drive and will continue to work with it opearting community and its stakeholders.

“We are particularly proud of our eye hospital and our water of life project through which we have provided portable water to needy communities.”