Honeywell Flour Mill, a listed miller involved in the processing and packaging of flour and livestock feeds from wheat, has announced a profit of N108 million for its first quarter ended June 30, 2019. The company is bouncing back from a slowdown in Q1 profit last year.
The Lagos-based miller on Tuesday reported that it grew profit by 5.88 percent over N102 million it made in Q1 2018 when profit plunged 84.18 percent.
Shares of Honeywell saw an uptick of 1.01 percent N1 per share, some 22 percent lower than it opened for the day, while the equity market dipped 0.46 percent to bring year’s loss to 11.49 percent on Tuesday.
The improvement in Honeywell’s profit was on the back of an increase in sales in the 3 months compared to a year ago. After a slowdown in sales last year, the miller said its revenue rose 7 percent to N18.995 billion in Q1 2019.
Honeywell noted 7 percent higher cost of sales which resulted in a decline of some 7 percent in gross profit at N3.41 billion in the quarter.
The Company’s gross margin, which shows the amount it retain per N100 revenue earned after deducting direct cost, fell marginally to N17.96 in Q1 2019. It was N18 a year ago.
The miller’s income from other sources declined 31 percent from N45 million while administrative expenses fell 14.47 percent to buoy its operating income by some 52 percent.
A higher borrowing cost translated to 57.96 increase in net finance expense for Honeywell which was nonetheless still able to grow its profit before tax by 6 percent to N135 million.
Income tax for the company was higher by 8 percent resulting in a profit of N108 million for the period.
Net margin a measure of the company’s ability to retain profit from its revenue showed little change as the proportion of sales kept back as net profit dipped to 0.57 percent from 0.58 percent in Q1 2018.
Earnings per share of Honeywell improved to N1.36 in Q1 2019 compared to N1.29 in the corresponding period of 2018.
SEGUN ADAMS
