Lucozade, Ribena sell-off to boost capacity, employment – GSK

 Stanley Opara

The Board of Directors of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc has said its planned sell-off of the Lucozade and Ribena brands will after all boost capacity in its pharmaceutical line of business while generating more employment for Nigerians.

The company had confirmed it would sell off its drinks business to a Japanese company, Suntory Beverage and Food. The move is, however, subject to shareholders’ approval at the Annual General Meeting.

GSK had put the timeline for the divestment at Q1 2017, of which the operations/manpower capacities of GSK will be absorbed into SBF. The SBF is expected to bring in more products and build additional capacities, while creating avenues for new jobs.

The SBF, a soft drinks company with total sales of £6.6bn, is aiming to buy over GSK Nigeria’s drinks business through its Nigerian subsidiary Suntory Beverage and Food Nigeria Limited.

 The company’s AGM, slated for July 4, was sequel to receipt of a binding offer from Suntory Beverage & Food Nigeria Limited by the board of GSK Nigeria.

 According to a regulatory filing submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, shareholders would be requested to approve the proposed sale of the company’s business of  manufacturing, bottling, marketing, distributing and selling of the Ribena and Lucozade brands in Nigeria and all assets attached to or deployed in connection with the business to Suntory Beverage & Food Nigeria Limited.

Suntory Beverage & Food, the Japanese group’s Tokyo-listed unit, has reached an agreement to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s Nigerian drinks business, a follow-up to a 2013 acquisition from the British drugmaker.

A purchase price for the assets, which generated around $73m in sales last year, was not disclosed.

Suntory Beverage bought British drinks brands Lucozade and Ribena from Glaxo in 2013 for 1.35 billion pounds ($2.1bn at the time).

Since then, the company has outsourced production and sales of the drinks in Nigeria to Glaxo’s local unit. Suntory Beverage’s takeover of these operations is meant to boost profitability.

The Japanese company has made other acquisitions, including French beverage maker Orangina Schweppes Group in 2009, to pursue growth in overseas markets.

Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: editor@punchng.com

 

The post Lucozade, Ribena sell-off to boost capacity, employment – GSK appeared first on Punch Newspapers.

from Punch Newspapers http://ift.tt/1tbcFTU