With the successful implementation of the 2017 Finance Act the Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL), which recorded a Le28 billion loss in 2016, has now recorded a profit of Le 3.9 billion for 2017.
This was disclosed during the Company’s 55th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 20th June 2018.
According to the Chairman Boudewijn Haarsma, 2017 was a peaceful and stable year in the country, and that formed a vital condition for the operation of the business community.
He maintained that currency head winds and high cost of doing business continue to pose challenges to the business environment, disclosing that the continued depreciation of the Leones to the major currencies further fueled inflation in the country and negatively affected their input cost.
“The government support for the local content policy remains vital” he said, explaining there was a positive full year impact of the Finance Act on alcohol beverages in 2017 on sales development and increased total tax contribution.
Haarsma furthered that SLBL achieved strong business growth in 2017 as their net revenue grew by 86 percent from Le 59.6bn in 2016 to Le 110.9bn in 2017.
According to him, this revenue growth was driven by the implementation of additional production capacity and increased demand as a result of new products, effective commercial activities and the positive impact of the Finance Act.
He disclosed the milestone achieved in 2017 was last achieved in 2013 as the operating results moved from a loss of Le 28bn in 2016 to a profit of Le 3.9bn in 2017.
The Chairman maintained that Net financing cost dropped to Le 14.7bn compared to Le 62bn in 2016, which was driven by the lower exchange rate losses on foreign currency denominated loans.
“As a result, the net profit improved significantly from a loss of Le 90.1bn in 2016 to a loss of Le 10.6bn in 2017” he said, disclosing that the Company invested a total of Le 81bn in 2017 mainly on modernizing, increasing production and improving environmental compliance to international standards.
Speaking about the use of Sorghum as a way of promoting the government agenda on use of local products, he said they made significant increases as compared to the previous years to meet with the demands.
“Through the CREATE program we are supporting sorghum farmers to increase their supply to match the Brewery’s requirements,” disclosing that as at present they are working with about twenty-five thousand local sorghum farmers across the country, due to the government’s encouragement in promoting local manufacturing and agriculture which is supported by the Finance Act.
Responding to the statement delivered, most of the shareholders expressed concerns about their dividend, which has not been forthcoming in the previous years. They however pleaded with the government to continue to create a business friendly environment using the Finance Act for them to survive as SLBL has started recording profits.
By Alhaji Manika Kamara
Thursday June 21, 2018.
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