For the past six months, Rwanda’s major brewer, Bralirwa Plc, fetched a whooping Rwf3.9billion profit after taxes. This, according to the company, represents a 70.6% growth in profit compared to the same period last year.
According to Bralirwa’s unaudited financial results for the period ended 30 June 2020, the company’s volume and revenue decreased respectively by -3.4% and -5.4% mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Due to a challenging COVID-19 situation, we were not able to deliver top-line growth in the first half of the year. The good performance HY 2020 is driven by better bottom line management. In order to drive further performance,” said Merid Demissie, Vice Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Bralirwa.
The company also said its net finance costs decreased by -17.3% (despite local currency devaluation vs Euro and USD) mainly driven by a reduction of the external long term loan and lower level of business activities;
Considering the operational review of the first half of 2020, the company said in a statement that its revenues decreased by -5.4% to Rwf 44.6 billion in the first half-year of 2020 (HY 2019: Rwf 47.1 billion).
“A slight decline in the Volume growth was due to a challenging market environment exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue was adversely impacted by volume decline and a negative product mix,” reads part of the statement released on Monday.
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However, Bralirwa’s operating result increased to Rwf 8.9 billion (HY 2019: Rwf 7.4 billion) resulting from strict cost management in addition to COVID-19 mitigating actions. Profit and total comprehensive income for the first half-year of 2020 grew by 70.6% to Rwf 3.9 billion (HY 2019: Rwf 2.3 billion).
In the second half of 2020, Bralirwa expects a volume decrease vs LY with the following mitigation actions: optimisation of the route to market and incentivizing distributors.
Meanwhile, the 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of shareholders of the company will be held on 17th September.
Original article on Taarifa Rwanda
