Guinness Ghana targets 30 pct boost in pretax profit

Guinness Ghana plans to boost its pretax profit in the 2011/2012 financial year by 30 pct on the back of a recovery in the West African nation's beer market, the company's finance director said on Monday.

We are seeing a strong recovery in the beer market as volumes are coming back, Rob Pilkington said on the margins of an event to launch the company's 70 million cedis rights offer.

Pilkington said Guinness Ghana expected growth in the Ghanaian economy, buoyed by recent oil and gas finds as well as a boom in construction, to translate into further beverage industry growth.

Ghana, the world's second-largest cocoa producer and one of Africa's top gold producers, became the region's newest oil producer late last year after it began pumping oil from its Jubilee oil field.

The country's finance minister has said GDP could grow by 20 percent by year-end, making it one of the world's fastest.

In order to take advantage of growth opportunities, we are raising the 70 million cedis in the rights offer to reduce high financing costs, which have in the past years adversely impacted on the business, Pilkington said.

Pilkington said 40 million cedis would be used for debt and interest payments and 28.5 million for future capital expenditure.

The rights issue will offer Guinness Ghana shareholders the option to buy 1 new share at 1.50 cedis for every 3.5287 shares currently held. The offer will run from October 17 to November 14.