Flour Mills Nigeria Plc has posted a decline of 40.39 per cent in its profit after tax for the nine months period ended December 31, 2018.
The company’s results for the period under review was released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), yesterday. The results showed that the profit after tax depreciated to N7.896 billion from N13.247 billion in 2017, profit before tax went down to N11.278 billion as against N19.502 billion achieved in nine months, 2017, while earnings per share also dropped by 58.55per cent to N1.89 from N4.56.
The company’s revenue also down by 6.28 per cent to N400.64 billion as against N427.509 billion achieved in 2017. Cost of sales was down by 4.69 per cent from N371.47 billion to N354.047 billion in 2018, while gross profit declined to N46.59 billion from N56.04 billion.
The company said that its operating profit stood at N27.29 billion from N44.19 billion, investment income increased to N536.46 million compared to N465.22 million in 2017, while finance costs went down to N16.55 billion as against N25.16 billion in 2017. Total assets appreciated to N432.22 billion from N408.348 billion as at March 31, 2018.
The company stated that “our business succeeded in posting strong performance despite the business challenges experienced. Management is optimistic that with continued effort to increase sales and marketing activities geared at boosting our top line we should be able to sustain the good performance for the remaining period.”
It will be recalled that in December, 2018, the company listed its series 1 and series 2 bonds worth N20.11 billion on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) platforms.
The company has successfully registered a N70 billion bond issuance programme and issued N10.11 billion Series 1 and N10 billion Series 2 senior unsecured fixed rate bonds under the Programme, in a transaction that was strongly supported by the institutional investor community and oversubscribed by 190 per cent within the price guidance.
The proceeds of both issuances, amounting to N20.11 billion were used entirely to refinance existing debt obligations of the company and streamline its maturity profile.
Speaking on the listing, the chairman of Flour Mills, Mr. John Coumantaros, said, “the company is delighted to return to the capital markets with such a successful outing especially with the level of interest shown by investors. The response from the market vindicates the company’s decision to have taken this additional step in diversifying our financing options.”
The Group […]