Local Content Policy At Work As Brewery Bags Le3.9 Billion Profit For 2017
The 2016, 2017 & 2018 Finance Acts, which were passed by the Sierra Leone House of Parliament in order to empower locals are now yielding great dividend as one of the beneficiaries of these Acts, Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL), the country’s local brewer, have now been able to offset a 28 Billion Leones loss in 2016 to making a 3.9 Billion Leones profit in 2017 precipitated by the aforesaid Acts.
The Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) has announced that a positive operating result was achieved in 2017 adding that the operating result moved from a loss of Le28 Billion Leones to a profit of 3.9 Billion Leones in 2017.
This report was made public when the company’s Board Chairman, Mr. Boudewijn Haarsma was making a presentation during their Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Staff Canteen Hall of the Brewery in Wellington Industrial area, Freetown, Sierra Leone on Wednesday 20th June 2018.
The Chairman further stated that this was mainly as a result of increased sales revenue, effective and efficient commercial spending, improved production efficiencies and robust cost management.
He said the Net Financing cost decreased to Le14.7 Billion compared to Le62 Billion in 2016, primarily driven by the lower exchange rate losses of foreign currency denominated loans adding that these were largely repaid during 2016 refinancing of the company.
As a result, Mr. Haarsma said the net profit improved significantly from a loss of Le90.1 Billion in 2016 to a loss of Le10.6 Billion in 2017. He pointed out that in 2017 the investment program to transform Brewery operations continued with a total investment of Le81 Billion within the year.
“In line with our environmental sustainability policy, we commissioned a modern waste water treatment plant at (Le23 Billion)”, the Chairman asserted and emphasized that this plant which meets international standards ensures that all process water is treated before being discharged into the environment.
He discussed that in 20017, major improvements were implemented in both sales and marketing in order to accelerate growth and build a sustainable long term business and mentioned that focus has been given on driving the innovations launched at the end of 2016. The Chairman disclosed that Star 60cl represented a significant share of the total brand sales and was a big contributor to the growth of the Star brand.
“Besides innovations, the goal for our brands was to create a lasting connection with consumers and we executed many activities that reach different communities-Star supporting local heroes, Mutzig supporting entrepreneurship and sport and Maltina supporting the Muslim community during Ramadan”, said the Chairman.
He continued that SLBL has implemented a project to improve the drinking experience of our consumers by investing in selected outlets.
He said their top priority as part of their transformation agenda is to continue to engage and develop their people adding that they are committed to improving the welfare of their employees in accordance with the people’s agenda.
The Chairman further elaborated that, in 2017, Sierra Leone Brewery Limited continue to make significant contribution to Sierra Leone’s social and developmental growth agenda through its Corporate Social Responsibility policy. He maintained that they continued to engage and developed sorghum farmers and stakeholders across the country to encourage more farmers to cultivate sorghum for commercial purposes in order to meet the production requirements of SLBL as part of our local content commitment.
Speaking to Directors, the Chairman said they should retire by rotation at this AGM in line with the provisions of the Articles of Association are MV Ivan, DA Carrol and Mr. L.J Tani Pratt and being eligible, they offer themselves for re-election
Concluding, Mr. Haarsma extended sincerity to revered shareholders, loyal consumers, the Government and people of Sierra Leone and other stakeholders for affording them the opportunity to continue serving the nation.
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara
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