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Flour Mills of Nigeria, Nigeria’s largest agro-allied company, has reported that its revenue for the nine-month period ended on December 31, 2016 rose by 48 per cent owing to robust demand for its food and agro-allied products, according to a report released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The company said revenue rose to N389.94 billion in Q3’16 from N263.67 billion posted a year earlier. The growth in revenue was driven mainly by a 51 per cent rise in food revenues to N290.73 billion and a 41 per cent rise in agro-allied revenues to N83.55 billion. Other revenue segments such as packaging, port operations and logistics, and real estate also recorded growth during the period under review.

Despite the increase in Q3’16 revenues, Flour Mills reported that its after-tax profit fell by 61 per cent to N7.39 billion from N19 billion recorded in the previous year. The decline in profit was due to the high base of Q3’15 when Flour Mills reported gains of N23.7 billion from the sale of United Cement Company of Nigeria (Unicem) to Lafarge Africa.

Flour Mills revenue exceeded analysts’ expectations, but the company’s after-tax profit fell below estimates, according to Cardinal StonePartners, a Lagos-based investment advisory firm.

Founded in 1960, Flour Mills is the manufacturer of Golden Penny brand of products. The company has operations in flour milling, pasta production, fertilizer distribution, and polypropylene bag manufacturing. The company owns Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited, the operator of Terminals A and B of the Apapa Ports, Lagos.

George Coumantaros, an American of Greek origin, and his family own 52.18 per cent of Flour Mills through a holding company, Excelsior Shipping Company Limited.

At markets close on Wednesday, Flour Mills stock closed at N18 per share, down 2.7 per cent from the previous day’s close.