Guinness Nigeria Plc has paid N340m as interest on its bank overdraft, which hit N8.68bn in the third quarter of the year.

Guinness, in its financial statements for the three-month period ended September 30, 2019, said its bank overdraft increased from N6.56bn at the end of June to N8.68bn at the end of September.

The company also recorded a loss of N370m for the period under review, compared with the N835.66m gain recorded in the corresponding period of 2018.

Analysis of the financial statement showed that the loss was on the back of a spike in the company’s finance cost.

The finance cost grew from N593m in the third quarter of 2018 to N128bn in the third quarter of 2019.

A breakdown of the components of the finance cost revealed an 863 per cent increase in interest expense on overdraft, which grew to N340m from N35m in the corresponding period of 2018.

The company also recorded a 170 per cent increase in loss on re-measurement of foreign currency balances from N195.72m in 2018 to N527.54m in 2019.

Finance expense on loans and borrowings also increased by 18 per cent to N385.54m from N326.15m in 2018.

However, the unwinding discount on employee benefits decreased to N33.28m from N35.91m in 2018.

The company also recorded a drop in revenue from N28.09bn in 2018 to N26.89bn in 2019.

Total assets, however, grew to N171.54bn from N160.79bn in June 2019 while total liabilities increased to N81.85bn from N71.73bn in June.