Business
Nigerian Breweries Reports 22% Growth
Nigerian Breweries Plc has posted a growth of 21.5 per cent growth in turnover for the half year ended June 30, 2009.
Unaudited result showed turnover of N82.69 billion as against N68.05 billion in the comparable period of 2008 Profit after tax stood at N16.86 billion compared the N12.34 billion recorded in 2008.
Audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2008 showed that turnover grew by 35 per cent from N111.75 billion recorded in 2007 to N145.46 billion in 2008. Operating profit grew rose by 34 per cent to N36.78 billion in 2008 from N27.36 billion record in 2007 while profit before tax increased from N27.88 billion in 2007 to N37.52 billion in the comparable period of 2008, representing 55 per cent increase.
Similarly, profit after tax grew from N18.94 billion in 2007 to N25.70 billion, translating to 36 per cent growth.
Chief Kolawale Jamodu, chairman of the company said in statement to shareholders that the current year could be challenging year for business all over the world due to the current economic climate but the market is expected to continue its growth, albeit at a lower rate.
Jamodu said the brewery market remained attractive and is expected to become more competitive with the entry of more international and local players.
The chairman said the new brew-house Lagos brewery would be completed this year, adding that gulder, maltina and Fayrouz cans were launched early this year thereby making the brands easily available to their loved customers.
According to him, other activities have been planned for other brands to meet the changing needs of their consumers, remarking that their internal processes will be strengthened for greater efficiencies.
Jamodu said their investments in human capital would continue as people remain the bedrock of the company’s success stories.
He said though the company experience high increase of input cost due to unforeseen huge price increases for grains and distribution associate with diesel, they were able to put in place significant internal efficiency measures to reduce costs in other areas of their companies.
According to him, the situation in the ports has deteriorated which made the number of days required to clear goods from the ports continues to rise with the attendant costs to importers of raw and other materials.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.