The Managing Director (MD) of International Breweries Plc Anabelle Degroot yesterday had a press briefing with business editors of which Nairametrics attended. The MD designate discussed a wide variety of plans including the coming on stream of their Shagamu brewery, merger updates and new products
Shagamu Brewery
The Shagamu brewery which cost $250 million is expected to come on stream by the second quarter of 2018. The brewery is one of the company’s biggest in Africa, and was built in order to address a supply constraint issue that had limited sales of the company’s products to areas close to existing plants. The brewery is expected to produce a wide range of products including popular brands Hero and Trophy beer.  The facility is AB Inbev’s fourth brewery in Nigeria.
Merger update
The enlarged entity is expected to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the end of 2017. The company’s current expansion plans will however lead to limited rationalization of jobs post merger. International Breweries will also undertake a name change next year to reflect the interest of the combined entities.
New products
The company also intends to introduce new products next year including Budweiser and Eagle beer.
Local content
About 70% of the company’s raw materials  such as cassava, millet and sorghum as well as packaging materials are sourced locally.
Operational update
In response to a question posed by Nairametrics about a spike in bad debts. Degroof stated that International Breweries had taken more prudent provisions in line with standards set by parent company AB Inbev.
Competition
Degroot sounded confident about handling the competition, stating We know our competition.
International Breweries is a subsidiary of AB Inbev the world’s largest brewer. AB Inbev has over 500 beer brands sold in over 150 countries including popular brands Stella Artois and Budweiser, and employs over 200,000 people. The company was listed on the NSE in 1995.
