International Breweries Plc, the Nigerian arm of global brewery giant- Ab-Inbev, on Monday published its financials for the half-year ended June 30, 2025, revealing a return to profit, aided by the superlative performance during the three months ended June 30. With the performance for that period, and success of its cost cutting efforts, the group reported net profit of N61.527bn, against previous half-year’s N150.234bn loss.
A further breakdown of the figure showed a significant drop in various cost inputs such as sales, finance costs (which was the most significant drop).
Revenue for the period rose from N223.198bn to N340.99bn, representing a growth of N117.791bn, or 52.77%; while cost of sales stood at N219.412bn, up from N160.586bn, an increase of N58.825bn or 36.63%. Gross profit for the period leaped from N62.612bn to N121.577bn.
Cost of sales was driven by materials consumed and allocated overheads amounting to N185.544bn, up from N137.467bn; advertising, promotion and distribution expenses amounted to N278.682bn, compared to N208.763bn in the prior half-year; while depreciation and ammortisation cost N31.438bn, from N22.267bn.
Other expense and income included sundry income of N1.398bn, which dropped from N8.791bn; net foreign exchange loss realised stood at N3.944bn, a significant improvement when compared to the N106.547bn reported in the previous half-year. Net foreign exchange loss unrealised also fell from N35.451bn to N2.983bn; among others; resulting in total net expense of N6.208bn, compared to the N134.006bn recorded in the previous half-year.
Finance income (interest income) for the period rose from N2.655bn to N9.374bn; finance costs was boosted by interest expense which dropped from N30.539bn to N22.228bn; while interest expense on lease liabilities increased to N3.321bn from N2.796bn; leaving a net finance cost of N5.472bn, a huge drop from the previous N30.681bn.
Profit before tax for the period stood at N61.527bn, compared to the loss of N150.234bn reported in the same period of 2024; with income tax expense of N20.239bn, as against the N43.451bn credit in 2024; following which earnings per share stood at 25 kobo, compared to the previous loss of N3.98 each.
