The Chairman, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mr. George Coumantaros, on Tuesday told its shareholders that the group’s prospects were very good following strategic investments and the restructuring of its operations.

Coumantaros, who spoke at Flour Mills’ Annual General Meeting, which was held in Lagos, also told the shareholders that the group would continue to expand its production capacity and facilities.

He said, “I would like to reassure our esteemed shareholders that our group’s prospects are promising and bright. Indeed, the ‘future is golden’! We shall strive to step up investment in our core food business and, in line with our strategic business thrust, expand our production capacity and facilities, increase our productivity and efficiency to enable us to deliver top line and bottom line growth.”

Coumantaros added that the group would also focus on innovation and develop new products for the market, while improving its sales, merchandising, redistribution personnel and activities.

Concerning Flour Mills’ performance for the year ended March 31, 2014, he expressed satisfaction that despite “the challenging micro-economic and tough business environment, strong competition and unrest in the North-East, Flour Mills posted revenue of N246bn, a growth of over nine per cent over the N246bn of last year.”

He added that the company’s profit before tax grew by 7.1 per cent, while its profit after tax was up by 17.6 per cent.

“The strong improvement in revenue and profitability was primarily driven by volume growth and efficiency gains, while the increase in profit after tax is a reflection of tax benefits arising from our investments,” he said.

At the AGM, the shareholders approved the dividend of N2.10 per ordinary share of 50 kobo, amounting to N5.010bn, proposed by the Board for the year under review. The dividend is five per cent higher than the N2 per share paid last year.

Punch