Greek multimillionaire John Coumantaros will earn $10.43 million (N4.29 billion) in dividends from his stake in Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc.
Flour Mills of Nigeria is Nigeria’s market leader in flour and flour product marketing and production. It delivered solid financial results in its 2020 accounting year on the back of increased agro-allied business and sustained improvement in other segments.
The growth in the company’s sales was driven by a continued demand for agro-allied sugar and food products. This led its revenues to increase by 34 percent from $1.39 billion (N573.77 billion) last year to $1.88 billion (N771.61 billion) in 2020.
However, improved operational efficiencies reduced the company’s operating expenses and other administrative costs and helped trigger a 126-percent growth in Flour Mills of Nigeria’s profit for the period ending March 31, 2021. Its profits surged from $41.97 million (N17.25 billion) to $90.71 million (N37.28 billion), while its dividends rose by 112 percent from $0.00443 (N1.82) per share to $0.00939 (N3.86) per share.
This solid financial performance made the board recommend to shareholders $16.47 million (N6.77 billion) of its profit as dividends for the year.
This translates to a dividend of $0.00401 (N1.65) on all issued 4,100,395,606 ordinary shares.
Coumantaros is the chairman of the board. He holds an indirect stake, representing 63.34 percent of the company’s issued share capital.
He is the son of the late George Coumantaros, who founded the company in 1960.
His equity position in Flour Mills of Nigeria, which amounts to 2,597,314,890 ordinary shares, qualifies him to earn a dividend of $10.43 million (N4.29 billion) from the company’s 2020 profits.
As of the opening of the Nigerian Stock Exchange today, June 30, shares in Flour Mills of Nigeria were trading at $0.0707 (N29.05) per share, with the company’s market capitalization valued at $289.82 million (N119.12 billion).
Meanwhile, Coumantaros’ stake was valued at $183.58 billion (N75.45 billion).
