Harare - Zimbabwean soft drink and alcoholic beverage
consumers manufacturers have become choosy as they seek value propositions to
survive the country’s current economic difficulties but this has impacted on
brewer, Delta Corporation, whose revenues for the year to March have declined
10% to $483 million.
Earnings per share in the company declined 12% to 5.70
cents, the company said Wednesday. As a result of this, there will be no major
capital intensive projects for this year, with the company electing instead to
spend little on replacements.
In the past year, Delta Corporation – which is now
controlled by AB InBev after it merged with SABMiller invested about $40
million in capital expenditure to build to breweries. Profit for the year
amounted to $69.8 million with dividend for the period set at 5.45 cents per
share.
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“The economic volatility in the country resulted in a very
challenging operating environment. There have been difficulties in transacting
for the public and this has made purchasing for our products difficult for
consumers,” Mathlogonolo Valela, executive director for finance said.
Delta Corp’s lager beer consumption volumes for the period
declined to 1.2 million hectolitres. Castle Lite volumes have however jumped by
more than 100 percent while Chibuku is showing some resilience.
The company has now lost about 800 000 hectolitres in lager
beer since 2013 but expects fundamentals to now start improving owing to
resilience in the value brands and the premium segment.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE