Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has announced plans to invest $1 billion in Nigeria over the next four years to expand its operations.
The chairman of Flour Mills, John Coumantaros, disclosed this during a recent interview, emphasising that the move reflects a commitment to increasing investment in Nigeria.
Coumantaros said “Flour Mills of Nigeria plans to invest a minimum of $500 million into its sugar operations in Niger State, with the goal of increasing production from the current 100,000 tons to over 400,000 tons annually.
“Additionally, the company will allocate $100 million to establish a cassava-processing plant aimed at eliminating cassava starch imports. In the full year of 2023/2024 Flour Mills spent around N1.8 trillion on raw materials resulting in its profit declining by 91 per cent.”
He also mentioned plans to expand their breakfast cereal product line, saying that most of the funding will be internally sourced.
According to the chairman of the company, the requirement for capital is going to be very large. And of course, we will be backing the majority of that, but when you grow, you cannot do everything yourself. You need to invite those experts of the best in the field to really support you and assist you and bring some of that technical expertise so we can grow more business, more jobs here in the country.”
He added that the Company plans to restructure its over twenty-two business units into five separate companies, saying that “we aim to attract both technical and financial partners to support the growth of our sugar operations and food business. We have ambitious plans for investment and expansion.”
Coumantaros disclosed that the Company is looking at leveraging on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to expand across the continent starting from West Africa.
“With the inception of the AfCFTA, we believe strongly that we should not be just looking at the Nigerian market. Our dream is to have a pan-African food business that is headquartered in Nigeria. We will take advantage of the AfCFTA so that we can expand our footprint into those regions,” he said.
He explained that the Pan-African food business will likely include a dual listing on the NGX and other stock market, expressing the Company’s intention to relist after it undergoes repositioning.
He noted that their goal is to return to the market, potentially with a dual listing as a pan-African food or agro-allied business.
Flour Mills’ plan to invest $1 billion in the Nigeria market will come as a confidence booster to President BolaTinubu, whose last 18 months has witnessed the exit of major multinationals in the Pharmaceutical and Consumer Goods sector. However, his reforms seem to be paying off; last month, Coca-Cola announced plans to invest $1 billion in Nigeria to expand production and distribution facilities.
