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| Photo: www.nse.com.ng |
Flour mills of Nigeria is making all the necessary registration
with Nigeria regulators so as to sell about 40 billion
naira ($128 million) this was according to the company’s chief financial officer,
Jacque Vauthier.
Jacque Vauthier said the company's directors had
decided that the most appropriate way to raise the funds was via a shelf
programme, enabling Flour Mills to sell shares in several tranches over a
three-year period.
Flour Mills, which has interests in food
manufacturing and agro-business, won shareholders' approval for the issue last
year but weak capital markets delayed its launch.
The Nigerian currency has dropped 40 percent since
June, when the country ditched its 16-month-old peg of 197 naira to the dollar
in a bid to lure back foreign investors who had fled after a plunge in the
price of oil, Nigeria's economic mainstay.
"We are working on different options, right
issues and or commercial paper and or refinancing our debt to ensure that we
maintain profits," Vauthier told an analysts' call.
He said Flour Mills intends to use the funds to pay
down debt and support working capital but will assess market conditions to
determine when to launch the first tranche after it won approval from Nigeria's
Securities and Exchange Commission.
The conglomerate had $20 million in foreign
currency loans, he said, adding that the company was exploring alternative
financing sources to mitigate higher costs from the naira's weakness and rising
inflation.
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