Evolving from a single Flour Mill in the port of Apapa in Nigeria, more than five decades ago, FMN Plc is now a publicly traded, vertically intergraded supply chain of food, agro-allied and logistics & support businesses (the leading food & agro-allied group in Africa).
Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) was incorporated on 1960 as a private limited liability company with a modest paid-up share capital of N1 million and converted to a public company in November, 1978. The beneficial interest in the company’s equity is held by Nigerian and Overseas shareholders. Presently, two foreign shareholders own about 56% of the company’s paid-up share capital. The balance is held by over 75,000 individuals and institutional investors.
FMN pioneered flour milling in Nigeria when its first mill was commissioned at Apapa in 1962 with a grinding capacity of 500 metric tonnes of wheat per day. Today, the Apapa milling complex has a rated capacity of over 8,000 metric tons per day making it one of the largest single site mills in the world. All the mills are manned by a team of highly trained and skilled professionals working at a high level of efficiency attested to by our ISO 9001:2008 accreditation recognizing that our flour manufacturing facilities are world class and operate within an internationally recognized Quality System. FMN had over the years made huge investments in milling technology and human capital to sustain its pre-eminent position and maintain its competitive advantage in the Nigerian flour milling industry.
FMN’s first investment outside Flour Milling was in BAGCO in 1978. BAGCO now a Division of FMN is a pace setter in woven polypropylene sack manufacturing. With its two giant plants at Lagos and Kano, it is by far the largest and supplier of choice to many industrial and agro-allied companies in Nigeria in the packaging of flour, cement, grains, salt, detergent, fertilizer, merchandise, farm harvests, shopping, etc. The BAGCO brand which has succeeded in gaining international recognition has also entered the export market with some of its polymer bags going to the African Continent and as far as the United States of America.
Another significant milestone was the company’s foray into Cement. The company operated a large cement terminal at Apapa and marketed its cement under “Burham Cement” brand, renowned for high quality and consistency. The cement terminal had a handling capacity of 10,000 metric tons of cement per day. In line with Federal Government’s backward integration policy, Flour Mills invested in the United Cement Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (UNICEM) Calabar, in 2002. UNICEM operates a green field, fully integrated cement plant, with a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons of cement per annum. In 2015, a strategic decision was made to dispose of the investment in UNICEM and refocus the group as a publicly traded, Food and Agro-Allied company that strives to use locally sourced materials to develop and produce unique consumer products for the local markets.
Beyond wheat based products, FMN Group’s strategic imperative in the years ahead is to create value in the supply chain and reduce dependence on imported raw materials. To this end, FMN has recently invested billions of Naira in its agro-allied ventures. The Group’s strategic diversification into agribusiness began in 1978 with the investment in a 10,000ha Kaboji Farm, which is close to the town of Kontagora in Niger State. We have subsequently made many other significant investments in primary processing of locally grown soybean, palm fruit, cassava, maize, and sugar cane; storage, aggregation and distribution of locally sourced grains and export commodities; manufacture, and distribution of agro-inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers. These strategic investments across the major crop value chains are setting the pace for others to follow and continue to strengthen FMN position as Nigeria’s Premier Food and Agro-Allied Company.
To ensure the continued viability and sustainability of Food and Agro-Allied operations in a challenging business environment, FMN has also invested heavily in support services in the form of manufacturing and marketing of packaging materials; power generation; ground transport logistics; and port operations; which include shipping, customs clearing, forwarding, and a shipping agency. Indeed, FMN Group is continuously exploring opportunities for strategic partnerships to grow and enhance competitive positioning in its main line of business in Nigeria and at a future date extend its investment and business activities beyond the borders of Nigeria.
