NIGERIA – Nigeria’s leading integrated food business and agro-allied group, Flour mills of Nigeria Plc has announced that the group’s Managing Director Paul Miyonmide Gbedebo has acquired additional shares in the company.

According to reports by Nairametrics, Mr. Gbedebo has injected ₦172.2m (US$444,000) for the acquisition of 7,486,719 shares.

The Group Managing Director undertook the purchase of the stakes in three tranches i.e. 1,948,839 and 4,200,852 shares at N28 per unit on November 17 and 18 respectively and 1,336,028 shares at N27.75 per share on 19November.

According to the company’s recent half year financial results for the period ended 30th September 2020, Mr. Gbedebo had a direct shareholding of 2,720,109 shares in the company.

Paul Gbededo was appointed CEO of the group in April 2013.

With the recent acquisition, it brings his total shareholding to 10,206,828 shares, which is worth N285.79 million (US$738,000) at the current share price of N28.00.

The move further cements Mr. Gbedebo’s position as one of the group’s majority shareholders and portrays his confidence in the future of the company.

Paul Gbededo was appointed as the CEO of the group in April 2013. Prior to that he was the Managing Director of the company’s Agro-Allied division.

His over 30 years stint with FMN Group started at the compay’s subsidiary Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company Plc also known as BAGCO in 1982.

The food business group reported a 31% growth in revenue for the six months ended 30th September 2020, to N355.1 billion (US$929.8m).

During the period under-review, it’s profit before tax was N14.6 billion (US$38.2m), a 69% jump compared to N8.6 billion (US$22.5m) in 2019.

According to the owner of the iconic brand ‘Golden Penny’, the increase in profit before tax was largely driven by the agro-allied segment, which generated a profit of N6.3 billion (US$16.5m).

It explained that the segment saw very strong improvement in the edible oils and fats, protein and fertilizer businesses following investments over the last few years.

The edible oils and fats value chain rose by 32% in volume. Volumes for the protein value chain also increased by 18%, while the starch value chain was up by 31%.

The group’s profit after tax (PAT) was up 68 % from N5.9 billion (US$15.4m) to N9.9 billion (US$25.9m).

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