Nigerian tycoon Oba Otudeko’s flour milling business accrues 94-percent gain in two weeks

Omokolade Ajayi -

Shares in Honeywells Flour Mills Plc have returned a total gain of 94 percent for shareholders in the past 26 days.

Honeywell Flour Mills is an integrated flour milling company founded by Nigerian tycoon Obafoluke Otudeko.

As of press time, 2:35 PM (UTC), Aug. 19, shares in Honeywell on the Nigerian bourse were valued at N2.98 ($0.007240), nearly 150-percent higher than its opening price of N1.20 ($0.002915) for the year.

Recently, the company’s shares have increased from a price of N1.54 ($0.003742) per share on Aug. 4 to N2.98 ($0.007240) per share as of the drafting of this report.

This translates to a 94-percent gain for shareholders in 13 days.

At the current price, the market capitalization of Honeywell Flour Mills on the Nigerian bourse is N23.63 billion ($57.42 million), N11.42-billion ($27.74 million) higher than when compared with its closing capitalization of N12.21 billion ($29.67 million) on Aug. 2.

Meanwhile, Otudeko, who founded the company in 1985 and owns a majority stake in the miller, has seen the market value of his stake surge by N7.62 billion ($18.52 million) in just 13 days.

His 66.8-percent equity stake in the miller is valued at N15.78 billion ($38.33 million) as of press time, 2:35 PM (UTC), Aug. 19.

At today’s N2.98 ($0.007240) clearing price, bids for a total of 56 million Honeywell  shares were placed without an equivalent offer on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange.

This suggests that the miller’s shares are expected to experience a further rise in price tomorrow, Aug. 20, as investors and bargain hunters sustain buying interests.

The company’s share price has been on the rise since the start of the year.

However, the recent surge appears to have been triggered by investor interest in the company, as the public digests its latest quarterly filing, which was published on July 29.

Honeywell reported that its half-year earnings jumped by 233 percent, as its cost strategies complemented a 25-percent increase in revenue from N26.4 billion ($64.16 million) to N33.06 billion ($80.34 million).