Economy

Flour Mills Posts N298b Revenue in H1, Donates N750m for Apapa Road

Published

7 years ago

01/11/2017

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Market leader in food and agro-allied products in Nigeria, Flour Mills Group, has continued to record significant growths, posting N298.44 billion for the six months ended September 30, 2017, an increase of 17 percent when compared with N255.30 billion of the same period last year.

In the unaudited 2017 half year results, the company recorded profit before tax of N13.48 billion as against N8.80 billion for the same period in 2016, while the profit after tax was N9.36 billion, compared to N6.46 billion for the same period in 2016.

Commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director, Mr Paul Gbededo, stated that, “Our half year results show continued growth through most segments of our businesses, especially in the food business, delivering strong top and bottom line financials in line with our objectives.

“The Group recorded growth from volume and product mix. This growth was despite what continued to be a challenging business environment.

“Overall, the business shows an impressive performance in the first half of the year. We are positive that we are on track to meet our growth targets for the remaining part of 2017/18 financial year.”

It was discovered that the food business value chain was responsible for an increase of N40 billion of the Group’s turnover.

The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of the firm, Mr Jacques Vauthier, in his comment, said that the management of the company was confident that this sector will record even stronger performance as the year progresses.

He stated further, “To this end, we are enhancing our marketing activities to push the brand’s presence into newer outlets while strengthening present market share.”

On the part of the firm’s Head of Corporate Business Development, Mr Sadiq Usman, in the agro-allied division, the Group’s focus will remain on developing competences and improving execution capacity to backwardly integrate its core value chains; Sugar sweeteners, edible oils, feeds & proteins and cassava starches.

He further said, “The Group will leverage its significant resources and continue to build the capacity of local farmers and farming groups, who are an integral part of our strategy to develop sustainable, locally-focused supply chains.”

As part of a strategic measure to consolidate operations, create value for shareholders and enhance administrative and operating efficiencies, the company in Q2 2017, announced the completion of a merger and absorption of Golden Penny Rice Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, into Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc.

It is expected that the restructuring will meaningfully improve the synergies of the Group, reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of the company’s products, with the aim of advancing the profitability of the Group.

The company is in the process of issuing the first tranche of the Shelf Registered Rights Issue fund raising program. The program which was registered in 2016 is to raise up to N40 billion in equity funds.

In addition, the CFO informed that the company has started the registration of a N70 billion Medium Term Notes program to refinance debts and lower the cost of borrowing.

According to the firm, as part of effort to combat the traffic challenges posed by the difficult road conditions in Apapa that have negatively impacted business logistics and, correspondingly, its performance, and to generally aid the ease of doing business in Apapa, it is partnering with other stakeholders with a contribution of about N750 million to rehabilitate Apapa Wharf Road and manage the traffic congestion in Apapa.

Economy

NASD OTC Bourse Declines Further by 0.16%

Published

4 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.16 per cent decline on Tuesday, January 21, extending its loss this week to two.

This further depleted the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange by N1.65 billion at the close of transactions to N1.071 trillion from the N1.073 trillion it closed in the preceding session.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slid by 4.79 points to wrap the session at 3,100.33 points compared with 3,105.12 points recorded in the previous session.

The bourse ended with two price losers yesterday led by Geo Fluids Plc, which gave up 32 Kobo to trade at N4.38 per share versus Monday’s closing price of N4.70 per share and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 15 Kobo to close at N39.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N39.65 per unit.

On the second trading day of the week, the number of deal carried out slightly went up by 8.3 per cent to 13 deals from the 12 deals executed at the previous trading session.

Also, the value of transactions increased by 97.2 per cent to N4.5 million from the N2.5 million recorded a day earlier, while the volume of securities traded in the session declined by 71.6 per cent to 183,780 units from the 767,610 units recorded on Monday.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most traded equity by value (year-to-date) with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with 55,358 sold for N14.5 million.

Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 25.3 million units worth N5.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units valued at N162.9 million.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,552/$1 at NAFEM, N1,670/$1 at Black Market

Published

5 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, making its value to shrink against the United States Dollar at the close of business.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency crashed against its American counterpart during the session by 0.18 per cent or N2.73 to settle at N1,552.78/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,550.05/1.

But against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the local currency traded flat in the official market yesterday at N1,906.98/£1 and N1,613.48/€1, respectively.

As for the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to sell for N1,670/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,665/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market heaved a sigh of relief during the session as President Donald Trump created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”

The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. This is after Mr Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto, officially stepped down as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Mr Trump’s term started.

The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.

Solana (SOL) recorded a 9.2 per cent growth to sell at $257.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 7.6 per cent to $0.36789, Ripple (XRP) added 4.0 per cent to finish at $3.18, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 3.7 per cent to $105,515.03.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to close at $699.01, Cardano jumped by 2.1 per cent to trade at $0.9972, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.0 per cent to settle at $3,308.21, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.5 per cent to end at $116.72, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Brent Falls Below $80 as US Signals Boost to Oil Output

Published

5 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The price of the Brent crude oil grade went below the $80 mark on Tuesday after it shed 86 cents or 1.1 per cent to trade at $79.29 per barrel after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, signaled the possibility of his country boosting its oil production.

This move raised concerns of higher US output in a market widely expected to be oversupplied this year, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling by $1.99 or 2.6 per cent during the session to $75.89 per barrel.

On his first day in office, the US President signed an executive order to unleash America’s energy by easing the barriers to oil and gas extraction and production and revoking a series of climate orders by former President Joe Biden.

As pledged in the campaign, the executive order follows the declaration of a national energy emergency.

The declaration includes measures to expedite energy infrastructure delivery, and emergency approvals by agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”

This will likely confirm expectations that the oil market will be oversupplied this year after weak economic activity and energy transition efforts weighed heavily on demand in top-consuming nations the US and China.

President Trump also said he was considering imposing 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1, rather than on his first day in office as promised.

The delay helped ease concerns of an immediate tightening of the market among US refiners, many of which are geared to process the type of crude oil supplied by these countries.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reiterated on Tuesday its expectations for oil prices to decline both this year and next.

On its part, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projects robust demand growth in the world both this year and next.

In 2025, OPEC says demand is set to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day leaving its projection unchanged from the December report.

However, losses were also limited after the US president said his administration would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The U.S. is the second-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.

Also weighing on prices on Tuesday was the potential end to the shipping disruption in the Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.