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Guinness Ghana Breweries Ltd. (GGBL), a unit of U. K. -based brewer Diageo Plc, expects to double beer production after opening a new pasteurizer at its factory in Kumasi, the West African country�s second-biggest city. Built at a cost of 3. 75 million pounds ($6 million), the pasteurizer will reduce water and electricity consumption, Managing Director Ekwunife Okoli said in an interview yesterday. Okoli declined to comment on specific output volumes for the factory. The pasteurizer, which heats the beer and then cools it to ensure stable quality, will reach full operating capacity in six months, he said. The company, which also has a factory in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, is expecting growth in demand of between 9 percent and 9. 5 percent in the fiscal year to June 2012, said Finance Director Robert Pilkington. The company reported fiscal first-quarter net income of 3 million cedis, compared with a loss of 6 million cedis in the same period a year earlier. Revenue in the three-month period to Sept. 30 rose to 57. 5 million cedis from 47. 7 million cedis a year before, it said in a statement e-mailed by the Ghana Stock Exchange today. Cost increases in the quarter were kept to 5 percent through efficiency initiatives and cost management, while finance costs decreased 52 percent, the company said. �Looking forward to our second quarter, with our planned activities and the positive economic outlook, we believe that we are in a position to continue the current performance,� according to the statement. Guinness Ghana, which makes the popular stout as well as Star lager and other drinks, plans to raise 70 million cedis in a share sale, it said last month. The money raised �will further address the finance costs that the business incurs and position the business in the right place� for Ghana, the company said today. The stock was unchanged at 1. 51 cedis by the 3 p. m. close in Accra.