Guinness Nigeria Plc has reported a remarkable turnaround in its financial performance for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, posting a pretax profit of N15.8 billion — a surge of 315.49% from the N3.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The result marks a strong recovery for the brewer, whose performance in recent years had been weighed down by inflationary pressure, high energy costs, and currency volatility.

For the 15 months, Guinness recorded a pretax profit of N43.7 billion, rebounding from a steep loss of N73.6 billion in the prior comparable period. This recovery was driven largely by robust revenue growth, as demand for its core brands strengthened amid a gradually improving consumer environment and operational efficiency gains across its supply chain.

Revenue for the quarter stood at N98.06 billion, representing a 64.72% year-on-year increase. Turnover for the 15 months climbed to N594.6 billion, with domestic sales contributing N585.6 billion and export sales adding N9.02 billion. Analysts say the domestic market remains Guinness Nigeria’s biggest driver, aided by product innovation, improved distribution, and the popularity of its premium portfolio, such as Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Malta Guinness, and Orijin.

As expected, the cost of sales increased alongside revenue, rising 49.1% to N61.7 billion from N41.3 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2023. Nonetheless, gross profit doubled to N36.3 billion, up 100.36% from last year, indicating that improved pricing strategies and production efficiencies are helping to offset input cost pressures.

Other income, which includes gains from asset disposals and by-products, fell sharply from N1.3 billion to N209.4 million. Administrative expenses rose 41.48% to N4.7 billion, while marketing and distribution expenses soared 84.49% to N15.3 billion, reflecting intensified brand-building efforts and increased logistics costs.

Even so, operating profit more than doubled to N16.4 billion from N7.8 billion in 2023, highlighting management’s disciplined cost control and stronger operational leverage. Finance expenses stood at N6.0 billion, nearly balanced by finance income of N5.3 billion, leaving a marginal net finance cost of N616 million. This helped Guinness sustain a strong bottom line, with net profit rising 288.26% to N10 billion.

On the balance sheet, total assets climbed to N245.9 billion, up 8.78%, with property, plant, and equipment making up N117.9 billion. Total equity rose to N28.4 billion from N2.1 billion, a reflection of the company’s regained profitability and improved capital structure. Retained earnings, though still negative at N20 billion, show a marked recovery from the previous negative N46.3 billion. Total liabilities fell 2.87% to N217.5 billion, driven by reduced payables.

Guinness Nigeria’s turnaround mirrors a broader pattern of cautious optimism in Nigeria’s beverage and manufacturing sector, where many firms are rebounding from years of economic turbulence. The company’s strong quarter underscores the resilience of legacy manufacturers that have adjusted to rising costs through operational reforms, local sourcing, and strategic product diversification.

Beyond Nigeria, the recovery aligns with the global strategy of Diageo Plc, Guinness Nigeria’s parent company, which has been repositioning its portfolio for stronger growth in emerging markets. Diageo reported in its 2025 full-year results that markets in Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific have continued to deliver resilient performance despite macroeconomic volatility. The group highlighted its focus on “premiumization, supply efficiency, and brand-led growth” as key to sustaining profitability across its markets.

In Africa, Diageo has also been increasing its stake in high-growth segments. In an earlier statement, Nick Blazquez, Diageo’s president for Africa, Turkey, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, said: “I fully expect that over the long term to be the same, if not accelerate… There will always be ups and downs in emerging economies, and I would caution us not to be over-optimistic. But do I think Africa will accelerate faster than Asia? Yes, I do.”

This strategy has directly supported Guinness Nigeria’s ability to stabilize costs and strengthen its product mix, particularly through locally sourced inputs and regional production integration.

The global beer market itself has shown signs of stabilization following pandemic-era disruptions and inflationary headwinds. According to the International Brewers Association, the global beer industry grew by 4.2% in 2024, supported by recovery in Africa and Asia, where “rising middle-class consumption and youthful demographics” continue to underpin demand. Analysts say Diageo’s focus on localizing production across emerging economies has given it a cost advantage over competitors still relying heavily on imports.

In Nigeria, where consumer purchasing power remains fragile, Diageo’s cost-optimization initiatives have proven vital. Its focus on innovation and sustainability — including investments in renewable energy at breweries and digital transformation in supply chains — has improved operational efficiency. Diageo has indicated that embedding sustainability and digital technology in our operations allows us to reduce costs, improve agility, and continue to deliver value to consumers in challenging environments.

As of October 23, 2025, Guinness Nigeria’s stock closed at N183.75 per share on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), representing about a 161.57% increase this year — one of the strongest performances in the consumer goods sector. Analysts believe the company’s improved fundamentals, supported by Diageo’s broader strategic direction and a recovering beer market, could sustain investor optimism through 2026.

Guinness Nigeria’s strong quarter, therefore, is not just a domestic success story but part of a global resurgence under Diageo’s adaptive strategy — one that blends local market insight with global brand strength to weather economic storms and chart a renewed path for growth.

Anthropic is introducing a major upgrade to its Claude AI chatbot, allowing the system to “remember” details from past conversations without user prompting — a move that brings it closer to the long-term memory capabilities already deployed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

The new feature, which begins rolling out on Thursday, will initially be available to Max subscribers, who can enable “memory” through their settings. Anthropic confirmed that the feature will reach Pro subscribers “over the coming days,” while Team and Enterprise users have had access since September. The company did not indicate when, or if, the feature would extend to free users.

In a statement, Anthropic said the rollout represents a step toward “complete transparency” in how AI remembers users’ data. Unlike competing systems that sometimes rely on background summaries, Claude’s memory interface will display exactly what the model remembers, allowing users to toggle, edit, or delete individual memories through natural conversation.

“For instance,” the company explained, “users can tell Claude to forget an old job entirely or focus on a new project,” giving them granular control over their stored information. The update will also introduce “distinct memory spaces,” letting users separate memories for different contexts such as work, education, or personal use. This, Anthropic said, should prevent “memory bleed” — where information from one context inadvertently appears in another.

The feature has been one of the most requested among Claude users. Until recently, Anthropic’s chatbot could only recall previous conversations if users explicitly told it to do so, a process many found cumbersome compared to rivals.

The change brings Claude more in line with the competition. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has offered memory since early 2024, enabling persistent recall of details such as names, writing styles, and project information. Google’s Gemini also integrated a similar feature later that year, letting users manage stored memory directly within the chat interface.

Anthropic’s latest release also includes a data portability feature that allows users to import memories from ChatGPT or Gemini. The company said users will be able to copy and paste previous memories into Claude, and export them “anytime” with “no lock-in.” This transparency-first approach appears aimed at distinguishing Anthropic’s data practices from rivals often criticized for retaining user information without sufficient clarity.

The new function could reshape how users interact with Claude. With persistent memory, the AI can offer more continuity, context, and personalization — remembering user preferences, ongoing projects, and specific instructions without requiring restatement. For professional users, it also means Claude can act as a long-term digital collaborator rather than a short-term assistant.

However, AI memory systems have raised ethical and psychological concerns over privacy, bias, and human-like dependence. Experts warn that persistent recall could encourage emotional overreliance on chatbots, fueling phenomena sometimes referred to as “AI psychosis” — where users form distorted perceptions of reality through repeated interaction with highly affirming or sycophantic AI systems.

Anthropic has said it is approaching these risks cautiously. The company maintains that users will always retain “full visibility and control” of what Claude remembers, and that stored data can be deleted or compartmentalized at any time. Its documentation emphasizes that all memories are encrypted and reviewed for safety before integration into user sessions.

The memory rollout marks another juncture in the escalating competition among major AI players. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have all been racing to make their chatbots indispensable by improving personalization and reducing the friction of restarting conversations from scratch. The update is expected to help Anthropic close the gap with its better-known rivals — and possibly set a new standard for how AI models handle user recall with transparency and user control at the center.

As AI tools increasingly blend into personal and professional workflows, memory-enabled systems like Claude are expected to define the next stage of the chatbot race.

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