Business
Guinness Promises Value To Shareholders
Management of Guinness Nigeria Plc has restated its commitment in ensuring enhanced shareholders value.
Its Managing Director, D. H. Hainsworth, who stated this recently during the company’s fact behind the figure at the Exchange noted the company’s strategies and goals in attaining value creation for the organisation.
He stated that the company would continue to improve sales volume reaching the market at the right time, improve sale execution, adequate power supply for production and coming up with new product and the five key pillars for winning in the market.
He explained that on the back of volume growth across its brands, the company posted a turnover of N89.15 billion in 2009 financial year ended June 30, representing an increase of 29 per cent over the corresponding per cent of last year.
“We are pleased to present this good performance by the company in the year 2009 trading year, which are mainly contributed to volume growth across the brands and a good product mix. The results also benefited from the five key pillars”, D. H Hainsworth, the Managing Director said.
A breakdown of the audited results which was presented at the company’s 59th Annual General Meeting (AGM) include a trading profit of N19.81 billion, an increase of 25.39 per cent over the 2008 financial year end, and profit after tax of N13.54 billion, up from N11.86 billion last year. The adjusted earnings per share also increased by 14.18 per cent to 918 kobo.
The directors recommended to the shareholders the declaration of a dividend of N11,062 million that is 750 kobo per 50 kobo share.
Hainsworth pointed out that the result s came in the same year when Guinness Nigeria’s leadership position in the Nigerian economy was re-affirmed by various recognitions at home and abroad.
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.