Leading food and agro-allied company Flour Mills of Nigeria plc has declared a dividend of N2.10 for every ordinary share of 50 kobo as against N2 last year, representing a 5 percent increase in dividend.
With the current ownership structure of 55.73 percent overseas shareholders and 44.27 percent Nigerian and institutional investors, there is a broad ownership base with over 77,500 shareholders.
George Coumantaros, who stepped down as chairman of the company at the annual general meeting on Wednesday, last week, while commenting on the dividend, said: “This puts us in the category of companies having interrupted record of dividend payment for over 20 years.
“I would like to reassure our esteemed shareholders that our Group’s prospects are promising and bright. Indeed, the future is golden. We shall strive to step up investments in our core food business and, in line with our strategic business thrust, expand our production capacity and facilities, increase our productivity and efficiency to enable us deliver top line and bottom line growth.”
Coumantaros further said that they were determined to ensure the success of their agro-allied investments and in doing so, maximise local content in their final products and derive group synergies.
Despite challenging macro-economic and tough business environment, strong competition and unrest in the North East, Flour Mills of Nigeria posted a revenue of N246 billion for the year ended March 31, 2014, a growth of 9 percent over the N226 billion of last year.
The company’s profit before tax grew by 7.1 percent to N12.46 billion from the N11.63 billion posted last year, and profit after tax grew by 17.6 percent to N10.47 billion from N8.9 billion.
The strong improvement in revenue and profitability was primarily driven by volume growth and efficiency gains, while the increase in profit after tax is a reduction of tax benefits arising from the company’s investments, according to the company.
Recently, the company’s flour operations witnessed major strategic investments in milling technology and gained accreditation to the Quality Standard ISO 9001: 2008, recognising that its flour manufacturing facilities are world-class and operating within an internationally recognised quality system.
In furtherance of its long-term business model and growth strategy, the compay recently embarked on group restructuring, strategic business acquisitions and investments in its core food business and backward integration programmes.
The company recently opted to invest in GE’s new 616 diesel engines to deliver higher fuel efficiency at sites in Lagos and Kano. The project will include five of GE’s 616 units, delivering up to 12.5 megawatts of electrical power or enough to power 33,000 Nigerian homes.
FEMI ASU
