The obligation to seal alcoholic beverages outside the country, in the case of imported beverages, is negatively affecting the performance of the company Cervejas de Moçambique (CDM) and causing significant tax losses for the state..

In a publication released by AIM this Wednesday (11), the chairman of CDM's Board of Directors, Tomáz Salomão, who was speaking during the Annual General Meeting, revealed that the measure has caused a reduction of 87% in the availability of imported brands, as well as accumulated tax losses, which are estimated at more than 1.1 billion meticais, equivalent to 17.2 million dollars for the state."

During the meeting that brought together majority and minority shareholders, as well as members of the Board of Directors, in a session dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the company's performance for the 2024 financial year, Tomáz Salomão argued that the sealing process for imported beer should be carried out on national territory, in order to benefit not only CDM itself and its shareholders, but also public finances.

For his part, Galo Rivera, managing director of CDM, quoted in a company press release, referred to another obstacle faced by the company during 2024: the demonstrations that took place in the last quarter of the year.

"The instability of this peak sales period caused revenue to contract by 2.5%. Despite this drop, operating profit grew by 13% (326 million meticais more than in 2023), driven by the increase in exports to South Africa and the optimization of operations," he said.

The director-general also highlighted an increase of 1.1 billion meticais in net profit for the year, "positively influenced by the reduction in financial costs".

Following these results, the General Meeting approved the distribution to shareholders of a gross dividend of 1.2 billion meticais, which corresponds to 8.15 meticais for each share in the company.

(Photo DR)