Guinness Nigeria Revenue Hits N122.7bn As Profit Rises 48%

CEO Girish Sharma credits operational efficiency and decentralised decision-making for Guinness’ improved financial results.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Girish Sharma, has attributed the company’s strong start to 2026 to improved operational efficiency, localised decision-making, and expanded market penetration, saying the business has been repositioned for sustained growth.

The comments followed the recent release of Guinness Nigeria’s first quarter 2026 results, which showed a 48 per cent year-on-year rise in Profit After Tax (PAT) to N10.39 billion and a 4 per cent increase in revenue to N122.77 billion.

The company also recorded improved earnings per share and significantly lower net finance costs, reflecting tighter cost controls and improved capital efficiency. Its board approved an interim dividend of N2.00 per share, amounting to about N4.38 billion.

The performance places Guinness Nigeria among a small group of consumer goods firms maintaining profitability and shareholder returns despite inflationary pressures, currency volatility, and broader macroeconomic challenges.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC Africa, Sharma said the performance reflected the success of a deliberate restructuring strategy implemented over the past year.

“We grew distribution, we’ve become far more efficient today, and we were able to make our people more agile because we brought decision-making down to Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, while the company may not sustain the pace of its recent 144 per cent revenue growth trajectory, it remains positioned to maintain double-digit expansion going forward.

“The past year has been a year of reset, but expecting 144 per cent revenue growth might not be what we should be looking at. However, I don’t see why we’d not be growing by double digits at the very least,” he added.

Sharma said the company’s transformation strategy was built around four pillars, beginning with organisational culture and employee empowerment.

“From a strategy perspective, I spent the first 100 days drawing the blueprint,” he said. “At the end of it, we actually broke the strategy into four pillars. First was culture; we needed to make people feel more empowered, more than anything else,” he added.

He explained that the second pillar focused on operational excellence through localisation, aimed at improving efficiency and responsiveness in the Nigerian market.

The third pillar, according to him, centred on consumer-focused innovation, with the company introducing new products while refining existing offerings to reflect evolving market preferences.

Looking ahead, Sharma said Guinness Nigeria’s growth strategy would increasingly reflect prevailing cost-of-living realities, with stronger emphasis on value-led innovation and affordable product formats.

He cited the recent introduction of Orijin Beer in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging as part of efforts to adapt pack sizes and product propositions to changing consumer demand patterns.

“Consumer tastes are evolving quickly,” he said, “and our job is to stay close to those shifts and respond with the right products,” he emphasised.

Sharma added that the company sees growth opportunities across several categories over the next few years, including ready-to-drink beverages, mainstream spirits, beer, and malt drinks, noting that rapidly evolving consumer tastes would continue to shape product development and market strategy.