SAB Miller is set to triple its production capacity at its Onitsha plant with an investment of $110 million.
This was disclosed in an interview by SABMiller CEO Alan Clark at the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos Switzerland.
“We are targeting a 4 to 10 percent market share in Nigeria over the medium term,” Clark said.
SAB Miller recently announced that group net revenue for the third quarter of 2013 — or revenue less excise duties and similar taxes — grew 4 percent on a constant-currency basis.
Total beverage volumes were up 2 percent, with lager volumes increasing by 1 percent and soft drink volumes growing 7 percent.
Clark said growth in the third quarter was driven by emerging markets, where the group was successfully targeting new consumers “through affordability and premiumisation initiatives across our brand portfolios”.
Pricing and volume growth in Africa, Latin America and China supported group sales growth “in spite of continued weakness in consumer sentiment, which particularly impacted our European and North American businesses”, Clark said.
African group net revenue grew by 8 percent on a, constant currency basis.
SABMiller reported declining lager volumes in Mozambique, citing the effect of political unrest. Uganda and Zimbabwe also saw declining lager volumes.
Africa, which has constantly grown its contribution to group earnings, achieved 9 percent lager volume growth in SABMiller’s six months to end-September.
SAB Miller is seen as a distant third place player behind Nigeria’s two major brewers; Nigerian breweries and Guinness Nigeria.
SABMiller in 2009 bought Pabod Breweries, Port Harcourt with controlling interest of about 57 per cent, Voltic Nigeria Limited (Voltic produces table-water), Lagos owning 80 per cent of the company, and Standard Breweries in Ibadan.
Analysts say SAB Miller used these acquisitions as a means of soft landing into the Nigerian market.
