Flour Mills of Nigeria hold 62nd annual meeting, approves a 30% increase in dividend to shareholders

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN), Nigeria’s leading food and agro-allied group and the owners of the iconic food brand ‘Golden Penny,’ yesterday held its 62nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) presenting shareholders with remarkable results for the financial year ended 31 March 2022.

The event which took place at The Grand Ball Room, Eko Hotel and Suits Lagos, had in-person attendance 4 Directors, the Company Secretary, 16 shareholder proxies, 4 observers, representatives from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other required stakeholders.

At the AGM, the Vice Chairman, Mr. Paul Gbededo who represented the Board Chairman, Mr. John G. Coumantaros, announced solid performance across key business segments, with revenue growing by 51%.

Shareholders at the meeting commended the Board of Directors and management for an impressive performance and adopted all the resolutions presented, including the payment of a dividend of N2.15k per ordinary share of 50kobo amounting to a total of N8.82 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, an increase of 30 percent from the previous financial year
KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AGM

Presentation of Audited Financial Statements and the Reports of the Directors, Auditors, and Audit Committee, for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The confirmation of the appointment of Ms. Yewande Sadiku as Director having been appointed to the Board after the last AGM, further amplifying the Group’s continued commitment to gender diversity on the board.

The re-election of five Directors who retired by rotation.
The announcement of the Group’s outstanding top-line growth across all business segments for the year with a revenue increase of 51 per cent and Profit Before Tax reaching N41 billion, up from N37 billion in the prior year.

The announcement of the expansion of FMN’s Research and Development capacity through a cutting-edge Innovation Centre as a pro-active manifestation of FMN’s unification of vision in creating an ideal platform where transformational ideas will be developed and applied for the organization’s holistic development.

Shareholders in attendance reiterated their confidence in the Group’s board and management, based on FMN’s continued stellar financial performance under their leadership.

Other special businesses by a special resolution voted on during the AGM included the:
cancellation of the Company’s unissued shares, separation of the power assets of the company, separation of the manufacturing assets of the company and raising capital to as much as N200billion.

Commenting on the Group’s performance and its vision for the future, the Vice Chairman, FMN Board of Directors, Mr. Paul Gbededo, who chaired the meeting, stated: “The company has been doing fantastically well. Our business has been progressively improving especially in the last five years, and for a company to achieve over a trillion naira as the topline, I think we have come of age. Indeed, this is a very good result for the company and shareholders. We appreciate the commendation by the shareholders and shall also seriously consider their observations in growing the Company even greater.

Also commenting on the Groups continuous investment in local content development, the Group’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Boye Olusanya noted: “As a leading food and agro-allied Group, we have always felt the need to be involved in all stages of the food value chain. We believe it is crucial to securing our supply chain, as it ensures that we have total quality control over our production process and can continue to deliver the highest quality and nutritious products to our consumers. And that is why we have, over the years continued to invest heavily in backward integration in accordance with the mandates of Nigeria’s Backward Integration Plan (BIP)”.