Honeywell Flour Mills swings to N21.39bn profit

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc has reported a pre-tax profit of N21.39 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2025, marking a significant turnaround from the N8.5 billion loss recorded during the same period in 2024. The recovery was largely driven by a sharp drop in exchange losses and a substantial increase in revenue.

The company’s total revenue for the year rose by 98.35 per cent to N373.5 billion, up from N188.3 billion in the previous year. Flour product sales accounted for the largest share of this figure, generating N278.9 billion or 74.7 per cent of the total. Pasta sales followed with N89.3 billion, while haulage services contributed N5.2 billion.

Despite the impressive revenue growth, the cost of sales also climbed significantly, rising by 118.80 per cent to N341.2 billion. This increase absorbed much of the revenue gain, resulting in a gross profit of N32.2 billion, which represented a slight year-on-year decline of 0.30 per cent.

Other income more than doubled to N4.9 billion, up from N2.2 billion in the previous year. This was primarily driven by sundry income of N3.5 billion and government grant income totalling N1.1 billion.

Administrative expenses soared by 244.3 per cent to N12 billion, while selling and distribution costs rose by 79.8 per cent to N4.5 billion. These surging costs had a visible impact on profitability, with operating profit falling to N18.2 billion, down from N28.4 billion the year before.

Nonetheless, the company’s bottom line was supported by a robust finance income of N8.5 billion. This was mainly due to a realised exchange gain of N5.8 billion. At the same time, finance costs dropped sharply from N36.2 billion to N5.4 billion. A major part of this reduction came from lower exchange losses, which fell to N787.8 million from N24.9 billion a year earlier.

On the balance sheet, Honeywell Flour Mills reported retained earnings of N7.8 billion for the quarter, a significant improvement from the N6.9 billion loss posted in the same period last year. Total assets also increased by 12.73 per cent, reaching N167.9 billion.

As of market close on 30 May 2025, shares of Honeywell Flour Mills were trading at N21.00, reflecting a strong year-to-date gain of 233.33 per cent.