Flour Mills, Honeywell’s Market Capitalisation Rises By 34%

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc have recorded a combined increase of N39bn (33.53 per cent) in their market capitalisation.

This was contained in data released by the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday.

The two of Nigeria’s largest flour milling companies had on Monday announced the signing of an agreement for the proposed combination of FMN and Honeywell Flour Mills.

Honeywell Group will dispose of a 71.69 per cent stake in its listed subsidiary to Flour Mills at a total enterprise value of N80bn, according to a statement.

Flour Mills also announced that it had entered into an agreement with First Bank of Nigeria Limited to acquire the bank’s 5.06 per cent equity in Honeywell Flour Mills.

Flour Mills’ market cap increased to N123.01bn on Thursday from N106.61bn on the first trading day of this year as its share price rose by 15.39 per cent to N30 per share on Thursday from N26 per share.

Honeywell saw its market value jump to N32.12bn on Thursday from N9.52bn on Jan. 4, 2021 as its share price ballooned by 237.5 per cent to N9.52 per share from N1.2 per share.

The share price of Honeywell Flour Mills rebounded at the end of trading on the floor of the NGX on Thursday after the firm rebutted the claims made by Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

The company had on Wednesday seen its share price drop by 9.78 per cent to N3.69, with a N3.17bn loss in market capitalisation, following a letter by Ecobank warning Flour Mills against the proposed acquisition of equity stake in Honeywell Flour Mills.

HFMP and FMN later responded that there was no court case restraining the proposed sale of 71.69 per cent of Honeywell Group Limited’s stake in HFMP to FMN.

Meanwhile, at the end of trading on Thursday, investors traded a total of 52.47 million shares of HFMP on the floor of the NGX, driving its share price up by 9.76 per cent to N4.05. Its market capitalisation gained N2.85bn to close at N32.12bn.

Flour Mills announced last month that its unaudited half-year results for the year 2021/22 showed consistent growth, with revenue increasing by 47 per cent and profit after tax growing by six per cent, compared to the same period last year.