The management of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc gave investors and traders no reason for cheer on Wednesday, as it opened the month of February with less than palatable third quarter score-card showing that despite a 47.89% rise in sales revenue, after tax profit fell by 61.05%, no thanks to the 275.85% growth in net operating losses to N11.756bn, up from N3.128bn in the corresponding period of 2015, among others.
Revenue from sales rose to N389.944bn from N263.68bn; of which cost of sales stood at N336.448bn, up by 42.57% from N235.996bn, leaving gross profit at N53.495bn, which represented a 93.24% growth from N27.684bn. Operating expenses was up by 11.99% to N14.475bn; even as ‘net operating losses’ ballooned to N11.756bn from N3.128bn. Operating profit therefore rose by 134.42% from N11.631bn to N27.264bn; interest income fell by 24.78% and interest expenses rose 6.97% to N17.697bn.
Profit before tax fell by 47.97% to N10.294bn from N1.786bn, while net profit stood at N7.401bn from the previous N19.003bn, after the 269.82% rise in tax charges at N2.893bn.
Profit after tax translated to Earnings Per Share of N2.50, down from N7.01 each.