Tema (Greater Accra) 09 February 2002 - Coca-Cola Bottling Company Ghana Limited said on Friday that its investment in Ghana has been a success story. Mr Segun Ogunsanya, General Manager, however, declined to disclose the company's profits, saying it is a private company. "We are a success story in Ghana and our success is bringing other investors," he told Mr Samuel Evans Ashong Narh, Tema Municipal Chief Executive, who visited the company's bottling plant on Spintex Road in Accra.
Mr Ogunsanya said the company has also supported other investors "because we believe Ghana has a lot of investment opportunities". The company, which sold 12 million crates of its products on the Ghanaian market last year, has two factories in Ghana, which are located in Tema and Kumasi.
The Tema factory, which has a capacity for 3,000 cases per hour, is currently producing 35,000 crates a day, representing about 65 to 70 per cent of its installed capacity. The Kumasi factory has a capacity for 1,000 cases her hour.
The company directly employs 700 people while 8,000 retailers have been provided with free umbrellas and tables for their work. It has also supplied over 3,500 coolers over the last five years on the market as part of ensuring that its drinks are served cold.
Mr Ogunsanya said the company opened its new factory on Spintex Road in 1996 but by 1998 there was the need for a second bottling line to meet the increasing demands for its products. Last year, the company introduced its mineral water - Bon Aqua. It also launched its first ever litre bottle of Coca-Cola in West Africa in Ghana this year.
The company has also invested directly in the distribution of its products by adding 42 new distribution trucks over the past seven years because it wants to facilitate its door-to-door service to its customers.
Mr Narh, who led a 15-member delegation of the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) to the factory, noted that it was located within the municipality and there was the likelihood that Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would stray to the factory to collect property rate.
Company officials however confirmed that the company was already paying some taxes to the AMA, and urged that this conflict be resolved at the political level.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2002 - The GSE All-Share Index inched up on Friday, thanks to gains by four equities. The index, the main market gauge, gained 0.1 points to 961.37 points. Change for the year also went up slightly to 0.57 per cent from 0.56 per cent, and total shares traded increased to 92,400 shares from 61,400 shares.
Market capitalisation was up at 3,914.53 billion cedis from 3,914.35 billion cedis. On the broader market, there were five price changes. Enterprise Insurance Company was up seven cedis at 3,117, Ghana Commercial Bank, Mechanical Lloyd and Unilever were up one cedi each at 1,579 cedis, 146 cedis and 2,401 cedis, in that order.
There was one decliner - Home Finance Company (HFC), lost two cedis at 950 cedis. The following are the closing prices of the equities in cedis:
ABL 320
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 627
CFAO 60
EIC 3,117 +7
FML 950
GBL 1,000
GCB 1,579 +1
GGL 910
HFC 950 -2
MGL 241
MLC 146 +1
MOGL 18,502
PAF 750
PBC 450
PZ 1,051
SCB 20,551
SPPC 341
SSB 2,200
UNIL 2,401 +1
CMLT 430
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Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2002
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,236.82 7,445.00
Pound Sterling 10,223.46 10,523.51
Swiss Franc 4,285.67 4,409.97
Canadian Dollar 4,523.85 4,654.57
Japanese Yen 54.16 55.71
S/African Rand 634.67 650.08
Euro 6,314.28 6,495.19
CFA Franc 9.63 9.90
Naira 62.98 64.79
Ecowas/WAUA 9,024.70 ----------
GRi../
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