The board of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, on Friday presented its audited result for the year ended March 31, 2017, highlight of which was its return to profit, despite the flat growth in revenue, following which the a six kobo dividend is being proposed for consideration at the annual general meeting slated for September 21, 2017, in Lagos. The N475.811m dividend proposed may however be considered miserly, when compared to the Earnings Per Share of 54.29 kobo, a 92 per cent improvement over the previous year’s 38.13 kobo loss, just as it may also be argued that the directors would rather hold back cash to enhance working capital at a time operating cost continues to soar helplessly.
Revenue for the period stood at N53.227bn from N50.883bn, while cost of sales dropped from N46.522bn to N40.515bn, resulting in gross profit of N12.712bn, which was N8.351bn or 191.5% better than the previous year’s N4.361bn.
Other income for the period rose also significantly to N1.211bn from just N157.97m, which was mainly boosted by the N1.116bn “allowance no longer required” during the period.
Selling and distribution expenses also fell to N3.418bn from N4.447bn; while administrative expenses rose to N2.243bn from 2.121bn, translating to operating profit of N8.262bn from the N2.049bn loss in the full year ended March 31, 2017.
Finance income for the period grew to N934.35m, compared to the previous N417.771m, just as finance cost soared from N1.237bn to N3.727bn, translating to net finance cost of N2.792bn, which was significantly higher than the previous N819.777m.
Profit before tax stood at N5.469bn, a 291% improvement over previous year’s N2.869bn loss. The company paid N1.164bn tax, as against prior year’s N154.51m, leaving net profit at N4.304bn from a loss of N3.023bn.