9M2025/26 Earnings Update
Guinness Ghana Breweries Plc. (“GGB Plc”) released its unaudited 9M2025/26 financial results, reporting a 13.2% y/y fall in profit-after-tax to GHS 184.9mn. The decline in earnings was mainly on the back of a 17.8% y/y slump in revenue to GHS 2.1bn. The revenue contraction was impacted by scheduled maintenance and equipment overhaul activities across its packaging lines, which temporarily constrained production capacity. We expect these maintenance activities, once completed, to enhance capacity utilisation and improve operational efficiency across its production base. The decline in profitability also reflects a strong base effect, given the 472.6% y/y surge in profit after tax to GHS 212.9mn, in the prior year. Cost of sales declined by 19.1% y/y to GHS 1.6bn in 9M2025/26. The reduction in cost of sales stems from lower production volumes due to maintenance and equipment overhaul activities on the company’s packaging lines, together with benefit from a 41.2% y/y appreciation of the cedi against the US Dollar in 1Q2026. Gross profit plummeted by 13.3% y/y to GHS 515.6mn, owing to the fall in revenue. Operating expense dropped by 6.0% y/y to GHS 266.9mn on the back of lower transport cost driven by decline in fuel cost and lower sales volume. Operating profit plunged by 20.0% y/y to GHS 248.7mn in 9M2025/26, leading to a 0.3pp y/y contraction in operating margin to 11.7%. Finance charges fell by 31.9% y/y to GHS 15.3mn, driven by a 43.8% y/y plunge in total debt to GHS 26.2mn. Overall, we expect the ongoing maintenance and equipment overhaul programme to enhance operational efficiency and production reliability once fully completed. However, the lack of a definite completion date introduces some uncertainty and a potential drag in our outlook for earnings and valuation. In the near term, we anticipate that the maintenance phase will continue to constrain production capacity, limiting output and placing pressure on revenue performance as operations temporarily run below optimal levels.