Consumption of beer, wines, spirits generates TBL Sh1 trillion in revenue

TBL Plc board chairman, Leonard Mususa speaks during the 49th Annual General Meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday. With him is managing director Jose Moran (centre) and head of finance Avito Swai. PHOTO|COURTESY

By Alex Nelson Malanga

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Dar es Salaam. Tanzania's oldest and largest brewing company, Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL Plc) recorded Sh1.015 trillion revenue in 2021 from

Sh961.886 billion the previous year, according to the firm’s financial statements.

This was revealed at the brewer’s 49th Annual General Meeting held in Dar es Salaam on August 25.

The AGM said it had approved a dividend per share of Sh255 from the brewer’s 2021 net profit, being almost 60 percent more than the Sh160 that shareholders received from the 2020 profit.

Company’s board chairman Leonard Mususa also revealed that the brewer remained one of the largest taxpayers in Tanzania.

The company's shareholders are smiling all the way to the bank as more and more people drink TBL products, which include Kilimanjaro Lager, Konyagi, Castle Lager, Redd's, among others. TBL approved Sh75 billion in dividends to its shareholders, a 60% rise from the previous year.

“We approved a dividend payment of Sh75 billion to our esteemed shareholders. This is an equivalent of Sh255 per share, amounting to an increase of 60 percent from the previous year,” said Mr Mususa.

In 2020, a total of Sh47.209 billion was paid as dividend to the company’s shareholders.

Profit after tax jumped to Sh134.757 billion in 2021 from Sh89.086 billion in 2020.

TBL Plc’s managing director Jose Moran said the growth in sales volume last year was driven by encouraging results within the brewer’s Castle Lite and Kilimanjaro Lager.

“Wines and Spirits remained flat versus prior year driven by strong performance on both export and with some challenges in the local market after price increase due to changes in excise in spirits. The business demonstrated resilience and delivered encouraging performance,” Mr Moran said.

And, if data have anything to go by, then shareholders must expect much more from TBL Plc this year (2022) as the company’s net profit rose by about 10 percent during the first half of 2022, thanks to an improvement in sales volumes as the economy recovers from the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, he expounded.

In its recently published unaudited quarterly financial statements, the company reported that in the first two quarters of 2022, it accumulated a net profit of Sh64.56 billion.

This was a Sh5.86 billion improvement from Sh58.7 billion that was recorded in the first six months of last year.

Meanwhile, TBL Plc made a significant contribution to government’s budget last year by paying a total of Sh472 billion in corporate tax, excise duty and value added tax compared to Sh463 billion in the previous year.

This gave the brewer the recognition as the largest tax payer in the country.

Mr Mususa told the AGM that the company shares its prosperity with the community through its CSR policy.

“Our business cannot exist without farmers, clean water, healthy communities, strong suppliers, a diverse and inclusive workforce and thriving natural ecosystems,” he said.

He said such a mind-set was the foundation of everything the company was doing, saying the firm’s Environment Social and Governance (ESG) Unit played a pivotal role in delivering the set strategy and purpose.

Through strategic partnerships, he said TBL continues to support its contracted farmers to be skilled, connected and financially empowered, by helping them to improve their productivity, profitability, and efficient use of natural resources.

“We are committed to reaching a set of sustainability goals by 2025, of which smart agriculture is a part. We have committed to ensuring that 100 percent of the direct farmers in our supply chain are skilled, connected and financially empowered by 2025,” said Mr Mususa, promising that the company will continue to support local farming and sourcing of raw materials.

According to him, TBL Group was committed to increasing locally sourced material as a key partner in the country’s socio-economic development.

The Group continues to play a key role in the agriculture sector and over the last year it purchased at least 70 percent of raw materials locally including barley, maize, sorghum and grapes to produce its products.

The government has recently granted a duty concession of 20 percent on locally malted barley and this has made it viable for the Group to invest in a local malting factory. This initiative will enable the company to utilize locally malted barley in its beer production at full capacity by 2027.

“TBL will continue to engage with the government in its efforts to build a secure base for industrialization,” he said.

In this regard the support from its principal, with its worldwide experience, will be provided whenever it is required.