By Habibat Aliu

Leveraging exchange-related pricing and a favourable mix of its businesses, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) Plc yesterday, said it recorded double-digit revenue growth of 38 per cent up to N720.5 billion from N522.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

According to the company’s unaudited half-year financial results for September 2022, the half-year growth was underpinned by the company’s improvements in the food and agro-allied segment and factored by a favourable mix and some exchange-related pricing.

With a solid performance recorded, the food segment contributed N445.6 billion signifying 61.8 percent of the total revenue. Similarly, the agro-allied segment of the business contributed N153. 9 billion representing 21.35 percent of the total revenue.

According to the company, the performance was occasioned by a propelled drive for better market penetration and increased customer participation despite the challenging macroeconomic environment and pressure from inflation in purchasing power.

The financial report revealed that the company’s cost of sales increased by 39 per cent to N651.8 billion compared to N468.4 billion during the same period in 2021. The increase in the cost of sales affected the company’s Profit after tax which declined by 46 per cent to N5.7 billion from N10.5 billion recorded in 2021.

Commenting on the result, Group Managing Director, FMN Plc, Boye Olusanya said, the group is integrating the Honeywell business to realise the synergies anticipated with a focus on restructuring the balance sheet to reduce FX exposure and ensure manufacturing stability while adding that this is expected to lead to strong results in the long term.

He said, “FMN continues to meet the needs of the consumers with our sustainable route-to-market structure and new product initiatives across our touchpoints.

“As we can see in the H1 22/23 report, the Sugar segment recorded a significant rebound compared to H1’21/22, a clear demonstration of the Group’s continuous and significant investment in the sugar value chain and across all our key value chains and sectors. As the Group continues to make headway in our backward integration activities through various strategic efforts, we remain committed to feeding the nation, every day.

“Also, our investment in product innovation and supply chain optimisation was sustained in furtherance of the execution of our long-term strategy. As part of the Group’s strategic roadmap, FMN continues to put in place a business continuity plan to safeguard its supply chain and food production processes to ensure that Nigerians can continue to have access to their daily nourishment.”