+- Forums (http://contripeople.com)
+-- Forum: General Discussion (http://contripeople.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Market Place (http://contripeople.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=77)
+--- Thread: Flour Mills of Nigeria increases dividend payout by 20% (/showthread.php?tid=19974)
Flour Mills of Nigeria increases dividend payout by 20% - Edoman - 07-24-2019
Flour Mills of Nigeria increases dividend payout by 20%
[/url]
![[Image: Flour-Mills-of-Nigeria-Plc.jpg]](https://thenationonlineng.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Flour-Mills-of-Nigeria-Plc.jpg)
[url=https://thenationonlineng.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Flour-Mills-of-Nigeria-Plc.jpg]
The board of directors of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has recommended 20 per cent increase in dividend payout for the 2019 business year as the integrated food and agro-allied group started to reap the benefits of its balance sheet restructuring.
Shareholders will receive a dividend per share of N1.20 for the year ended March 31, 2019 as against N1 paid for the 2018 business year.
The company’s full year result showed a 30 per cent reduction of its financing cost and a strengthened balance sheet, enabling the group to increase its dividend by 20 per cent. Flour Mills’ total net debt reduced by N21.2 billion and financing costs by 30 per cent to N22.9 billion by March 2019.
Group Chief Finance Officer, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN), Anders Kristiansson, said the company’s strategy to restructure the balance sheet base and optimize the financing costs has started to yield the desired results.
“The business showed increasing levels of efficiency. Despite ongoing pressures on consumer disposable income in many of our target categories, we delivered a stronger fourth quarter than last year,” Kristiansson.
Group Managing Director, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Paul Gbededo, said the company had made substantial progress in the immediate past 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,” Gbededo said.
He explained that Flour Mills has undergone several functional and structural changes last year, with innovation and focus on its consumers.
“We are positive that we will see even greater achievements in our financials in the following quarters as we continue to focus on value creation for our shareholders,” Gbededo said.
In spite of the prevailing economic headwinds and harsh operating environment, which is further heightened by the logistics challenges in Apapa, Flour Mills has continued to make remarkable progress. For instance, the group’s strategic directive to focus on market expansion while realigning its food and agro-allied businesses ensured its sustainable growth and profitability.
In 2018, the company undertook a series of strategic actions designed to improve returns and deliver maximum gains for its investors. Top of such actions was the restructuring process that saw all Flour Mills’ group businesses in the agriculture sector aligned under Golden Fertilizer company, a fully owned Holding company.