KBL profits jump nearly three times over
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday September 27, 2021 17:00
In a recent note to investors, directors said the higher profits were due to the fact that the brewer’s sales in the half year experienced less restrictions when compared to last year.
The P151.4 million in pretax profits is less than the P196.4 million that KBL recorded in the six months to June 2019, which represents the pre-pandemic corresponding reporting period.
In terms of the first six months of the past two years, the alcohol producer experienced a full lockdown between April and May last year, as well as lockdown in Greater Gaborone in June. This year, sales were banned early in January to February. Another ban was instituted on June 28, but for KBL’s reporting period, this represented just two days with no sales.
While KBL’s volumes in the half year to June 2021 rose 28% year-on-year to 54 million litres, the figure was still below the 70.7 million litres sold in the first six months of 2019, which is the corresponding pre-pandemic figure.
KBL paid P32 million in taxes in the first half of 2021, compared to P7 million over the corresponding period last year.
Earlier this year, the brewer sued government over the June 28 sales ban, losing on a technicality at the High Court and appealing at the Court of Appeal. The brewer dropped the case after government allowed the return of alcohol sales on September 6.