Ghana’s leading total beverage business, Guinness Ghana, says the business remains focused on delivering its core mandate and keeping its foundation strong, despite the prevailing macro-economic challenges the country faces today.
According to the beverage company, it continues to invest in elements that are important for the future d as it believes in the resilience of the Ghanaian economy and its people.
Speaking to investors, shareholders, and members of the press during an investor call organized in conjunction with the Ghana Stock Exchange, Helene Weesie, Managing Director of Guinness Ghana noted, “we just need to weather these storms and then we go back to the foundation of our business, which is strong. These circumstances are temporary, but the business remains focused on delivering its core mandate.”
We started the year strong, and we had a particularly good first half. I must say, however, in the second half, a lot of the good work that we did in the first half was erased due to dire economic circumstances. From February we saw the Cedi heavily depreciating, we experienced rising inflation and significant increases in costs as consequence. As a business we have tried to price against that, but that erased most of the benefits and gains that we made in the first half. Overall, I will say it has been a tough year and although we ended better than the year before, it was not at the level where we wanted to.”
Shedding further light on the performance of the business, Finance Director, Justin Mollel noted, “In 2021, Guinness Ghana invested £26 million on a new brewhouse, and this has increased production capacity by 25%. “This investment has really expanded our production capacity and made it possible to brew with sorghum, a local raw material, in Achimota which we were not able to do previously. We have strong brands and the equity of our flagship brand; Guinness Stout is strong; same for Malta Guinness.”
Helene added, “for Guinness Stout, we have also launched cans which now allows consumers to enjoy our high-quality Guinness on more moments and other occasions. We have also championed various campaigns with our key brands like “The Ones Who Keep Walking” by Johnnie Walker; a fantastic Pan African Campaign that has really benefited and strengthened the brand here in Ghana,”
On her part, Corporate Relations Director, Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah intimated the company’s continued investment in the people of Ghana and the society. She noted, “as you may know, perhaps the sorghum harvest of the last year was not that fantastic, and we’ve been working closely together with our farmers to ensure a better harvest for this year which we can use in our breweries. We remain closely connected with the local communities, helping the farming community to set up their farms and ensuring we offtake the produce to make our great brands for our consumers. Though it was a challenging year, we delivered on our Society 2030 commitments.”
Helene, in conclusion added, “investors should continue to invest in Guinness Ghana because we have continued to strengthen our foundations. The foundations are in our production facilities, our brands, and our people. We continue to invest in our production such as the new brewhouse and in additional modern technology. We continue to invest in our brands with strong campaigns and innovation, as well as in our people, with training and development. The economic situation may be challenging, but the resilience that we have shown over the last years gives us good confidence for the future. We have been here for 62 years, we have weathered several storms before, and we will weather this storm again.”
