Delta to revive Scud

LISTED beverages producer, Delta Corporation Limited has said it is planning to revive its Scud beer brand to cover supply gaps on the market.

“There are ongoing efforts to optimise the available PET production capacity across the regional countries and to revive the Scud pack to cover supply gaps,” company secretary Faith Musinga said in a trading update for the third quarter ending December 31, 2022.

The domestic economy’s growth remains subdued due to high inflation, unstable and multiple exchange rates, reduced agricultural output and the pass-through impacts of rising global inflation together with supply disruptions arising from COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

Regional economies are also struggling as a result of global inflation and the strong United States dollar, which have driven up the cost of fuel and raw materials.

The beverages producer reported a 17% volume growth in lager beer for the first quarter compared to the same period the prior year but bemoaned intermittent gaps arising from outages in power, water supplies, and mismatches in the demand and supply of brands and packs.

Sorghum beer volume improved by 11% for the quarter compared to the same period last year and was up 12% for the nine months.

Musinga said a positive trajectory was witnessed in the sparkling beverages sector for the period under review, adding that the supply of returnable glass was affected by delayed receipt of glass bottles.

“The sparkling beverages volume grew by 5% for the quarter and is up 14% for the nine months. The supply of PET packs remains constrained and will be addressed by the investment in additional capacity which is expected in the current quarter. The supply of returnable glass packs was affected by the delayed receipt of glass bottles and some disruptions to production operations arising from power and water outages,” she said.

African Distillers Limited reported volume growth of 10% for the quarter and 11% for the nine months.

The company said it remained focused on exploiting opportunities arising from activities that generate aggregate demand such as infrastructure development projects, mining activities and diaspora remittances.-newsday