Brewery launches new range of products |14 December 2016
The AGM in full swing
The Seychelles Breweries Ltd (SBL) has launched its Sey Pearl range of soft drinks in new 30cl pet bottles as well as a Festive SeyBrew with new and more colorful gold and red label.
The launch took place during the company’s 48th annual general meeting (AGM) held on Saturday.
Managing director Nicholas Cook said the launch of the products is very good and exciting for the company.
He described the new SeyBrew as “a fruity delicious liquid” and the soft drinks in smaller bottles retailing at R12 as a way for consumers to reduce their soft drinks intake.
SBL shareholders or proxies were the first to savour and appreciate the new products before they hit the market on Monday.
The SBL AGM at the Ephelia Resort provided shareholders with relevant information on the company’s management as well as performance during the 2016 year.
In spite of the fact that the SBL had a strong start this year, during the 2nd half of 2016 business suffered with sales decline which was primarily due to inconsistency of supplies in March and April.
The reason for this was the breakdown and unreliability of the SBL‘s aged equipment including utilities, refrigeration and boiler.
These failures had a significant impact on its ability to produce at full capacity.
The plant also had to be shut down for several days to allow replacement of failing equipment.
As a result the company made a significant amount of investment in the replacement of the refrigeration plant and boiler as well as in upgrading the steam condensate system.
The brew house operating system was also upgraded in September.
SBL chairman Simon Harvey said in his statement that “the equipment failure left a notable negative impact on our performance for the year. We ended the financial year 2016 with a sales revenue decline of 11% versus last year and profit before tax declined by 23%. The income tax charge for the financial year 2016 is significantly above last year, mainly due to the correction of the deferred tax calculations for the prior years”.
He added that the impact of supply outage combined with the deferred tax adjustment resulted in profit after tax decline of 85% versus the prior year.
All of these investments are having a positive impact on the operational efficiency, waste reduction, utilities consumption as well as significantly improving the quality, consistency and reliability of the brewing process.
For his part Mr Cook added that following all the positive investments for the future, which nevertheless temporarily hampered the company’s production severely, things are now back to normal and sales are picking up and he expressed excitement and optimism for the future.
“Our plans are brilliant, our ideas are solid, we have a fantastic team in place and these are all the ingredients that make the future exciting,” Mr Cook said.
But Mr Cook also pointed out that part of the challenge remains to make the different products available on the market all the time and as per the investment plan for the next three years, the aim is to ensure that happens.
Commenting on the 10% excise tax on imported and locally produced alcohol announced in the budget for 2017, Mr Cook expressed disappointment and remarked that it “would be a challenge for us from a local production point of view”.