Flour Mills Plans Bond Issuance To Refinance Existing Debt

Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) says it will issue another bond within the next two months as part of its N70 billion programme to refinance existing debt.

Anders Kristiansson, FMN Group Chief Finance Officer, told analysts on Monday that the bond issuance would help the company take advantage of the low money market rates.

According to Kristiansson, the company has taken steps to conserve cash in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier in April, the company had sold N30 billion in commercial paper as part of the measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on its business.

“We have a N70 billion bond programme. We are looking to tap into the market again given the low-interest-rate environment,” he said.

“We anticipate coming to the market to refinance some of our existing debt by bringing a bond to the market. We anticipate doing that in the next two months.”

FMN, which released its Q1 2020 financial statement on Monday, said it recorded steady growth in its food business and agro-business as its revenue grew 15 percent to N154.6 billion.

It also reported a profit after tax (PAT) increase of 14 percent to N4.9 billion from N4.2 billion.

According to the results, the company held a net debt of N75.8  billion at the end of the first quarter.