Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Nigeria’s integrated food business and
agro-allied group, on Monday announced that its audited 2018/19
financial results showed a N1.9 billion improvement in Q4, 2018/19.
The improvement was in comparison to the same period last year, with
full year Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N10.2 billion, compared to N16.5
billion in the year ended 31st March 2018.
The company’s full year result also showed a 30 per cent reduction of
its financing cost and a strengthened balance sheet, enabling the
Group to increase its dividend by 20 per cent.
Flour Mills’ total net debt reduced by N21.2 billion and financing
costs by 30 per cent (N9.8 billion) to N22.9 billion as at 31st March
2019.
The company proposed a dividend increase of N0.20k to N1.20k per
share. This is subject to shareholders’ approval at the company’s
Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Commenting on the result, Group Chief Finance Officer, Flour Mills of
Nigeria Plc (FMN), Anders Kristiansson, said: “Our strategy to
restructure the balance sheet base and optimize the financing costs
has started to yield the desired results.
“The business showed increasing levels of efficiency. Despite ongoing
pressures on consumer disposable income in many of our target
categories, we delivered a stronger Q 4 than last year.”
The Group Managing Director, FMN, Paul Gbededo, also said: “We have
made substantial progress this year, even in the face of an adverse
and challenging business environment.
“Our growth and efficiency initiatives across our various functions
and businesses have started to show anticipated gains as we continue
to focus on organic sales growth and position the business for
continuous profitability.”
Gbededo explained that FMN has undergone several functional and
structural changes last year, with innovation and focus on its
consumers.
“We are positive that we will see even greater achievements in our
financials in the following quarters as we continue to focus on value
creation for our shareholders.
“To that end, we will be proposing the declaration of a dividend to
our shareholders with a significant increase over last year,” he said.
In spite of the prevailing economic headwinds and harsh operating
environment, which is further heightened by the logistics challenges
in Apapa, FMN has continued to make remarkable progress.
For instance, the group’s strategic directive to focus on market
expansion while realigning its food and agro-allied businesses ensured
its sustainable growth and profitability.
In 2018, the company undertook a series of strategic actions designed
to improve returns and deliver maximum gains for its investors.
Top of such actions was the restructuring process that saw all FMN
Group businesses in the agriculture sector aligned under Golden
Fertilizer company, a fully owned Holding company.
On its outlook for 2019, the firm said continuous growth was envisaged
in key segments such as food and agro-allied, as targeted strategies
deliver improved margins and operational efficiencies.
It added that continuous implementation of turnaround initiatives in
the agro-allied business, accelerated expansion in the B2C segment,
optimal operation of its supply chain and further balance sheet
management were expected to result in higher profitability.
