Kenya’s East African Breweries Limited (EABL) is building a new KSh300m ($2.9m) spirits line at its Ruaraka (Nairobi) headquarters, capable of producing 22.5m litres of spirits annually.

East African Breweries Limited, whose largest shareholder is Diageo PLC, is building a new KSh300m ($2.9m) spirits line at its Ruaraka plant in Nairobi. The new plant will have the capacity to produce 2.5m equivalent units – 22.5m litres of product – annually. The Kenyan brewer has outlined its new plans in its latest annual report.

The report noted that EABL had delivered solid results with a growth of 5% in volume and 9% net sales in the year to June 2017. The standout figure is company saw a 14% growth in sales of spirits, driven by Kenya Cane and Johnnie
Walker, which grew at 46% and 17% respectively. In Uganda, spirits growth was higher – 20%, while in the Great Lakes region (which includes Rwanda), spirits growth was 26%. Along with value beer – a reaction to constricted consumer purchasing power – spirits is seen by EABL as a core area for investment and growth.

In December 2017 EABL launched the Captain Morgan brand in Kenya. It also markets the Johnnie Walker and Singleton whisky brands, Smirnoff and Ciroc vodkas as well as locally made brands such as Kenya Cane and Ug Coconut.