Economy

Flour Mills Raises Dividend by 20% Despite Poor FY Results

Published

5 years ago

13/07/2019

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

On Friday, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc released its audited financial statements for the full year ended March 31, 2019.

In the results briefly analysed by Business Post, the harsh operating environment and the challenging logistics situation ctreated by the Apapa gridlocl in Lagos continued to weigh on the firm.

This was evident in the revenue generated by Flour Mills, which went down to N527.4 billion from N542.7 billion. The traffic issue raised the cost of sales of the firm to N474.1 billion from N473.9 billion, while the selling and distribution expenses jumped to N8.2 billion from N6.2 billion, with the administrative expenses staying flat at N19.4 billion, same amount used a year earlier.

However, the company’s strategy to optmise the finance costs yielded a good result as this was slashed by 30 percent to N22.9 billion from N32.7 billion in the period under consideration.

A further analysis of the financial statements by Business Post showed that during the fiscal year, the gross profit of the firm dropped to N53.4 billion from N68.8 billion, while the operating profit reduced to N32.3 billion from N48.2 billion, with investment income going down to N768.6 million from NN816.3 million.

In the year, the profit before tax went down to N10.2 billion from N16.4 billion, while the profit after tax decreased to N4 billion from N13.6 billion, with the earnings per share reducing to N1 from N4.83k.

However, as a way to boost the morale of its shareholders, the board of Flour Mills is proposing the payment of N1.20k per share as dividend for the financial year, indicating a 20 percent increase from last fiscal year. Payment of this cash reward is subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Commenting on the results, Group Chief Finance Officer of Flour Mills, Mr Anders Kristiansson, said, “Our strategy to restructure the balance sheet base and optimize the financing costs have started to yield the desired results, as the business showed increasing levels of efficiency.

“Despite ongoing pressures on consumer disposable income in many of our target categories, we continued delivered a stronger quarter 4 than last year.”

On his part, Group Managing Director of the flour miller, Mr Paul Gbededo, stated that, “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.”

Recall that in 2018, Flour Mills undertook a series of strategic actions designed to improve returns and deliver maximum gains for our investors. Top of such actions was the restructuring process that saw all the firm’s group businesses in the agriculture sector aligned under Golden Fertilizer company, a fully owned holding company.

According to a statement issued by company, the decision has already started to yield appreciable improvements within the group, in the areas of cost maximization and improved operational efficiency as the businesses make the most of their competitive advantage and synergies. This is further supported by the strong cost control measures that have been put in place by management within the year under review,

In the agriculture space, Flour Mills has continued to consolidate on its investments, with a strong focus on innovative and efficient use of resources.

Accordingly, the group is resizing and simplifying the operations of some of the farms which form an integral part of our backward integration strategy with a few of the smaller experimental farms being scaled-down, whereas we continue to focus on the key units.

Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.