Year-to-date, YtD, investment returns of Guinness Nigeria Plc shares depreciated further at close of market on Monday, October 10 to -33.7 per cent from -18.6 per cent registered just before the announcement of the decision.
This was as a result of the last week’s decision of l, owners of Guinness Overseas Ltd, the parent company of Guinness Nigeria Plc, to reverse its planned acquisition of additional 15.7 per cent equity stake in the Nigerian operation has worsened returns on investments in the stocks of the Nigerian entity .
The stock investment returns had seen significant underperformance since 2016 standing at -21.1 per cent just before it announced an abyssimal first quarter results on September 21, 2016.
However, contrary to market reactions to what investment community saw as withdrawal of confidence signalled by the investment decision of Guinness Overseas, executives of the Guinness Nigeria think otherwise, Vanguard reports.
The Nigerian executives also believe the company would weather the current storm and return to profitability soon. Director of Corporate Relations, Mr Sesan Sobowale, told Vanguard that the company has the right strategy to make this happen, urging the shareholders to remain steadfast.
“Guinness Nigeria is committed to Nigeria for the long term and while, like other businesses, we are feeling the effect of the operating environment, we believe that we have the right strategy to reposition the business and return it to profitability as soon as possible,” he said.
“Some of the areas which give us hope is our unrivalled portfolio of beer, soft drinks and spirits and the fact that we are constantly focused on reducing operational cost to enhance our ability to run a profitable operation.
He said the company’s shareholders should therefore be encouraged by the fact that we are building a resilient business able to weather the temporary economic storm and return value to their investment.
