‘FMN’s backward integration plan skewed towards securing supply chain’

With access to foreign exchange for raw materials becoming challenging for many manufacturers, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) has stated that its investment in the backward integration plan was geared towards securing its supply chain and maintaining quality.

According to the firm, involvement in all stages of the food value chain is key in sustaining value for its shareholders.

Speaking at the firm’s 62nd yearly general meeting in Lagos, the Vice Chairman, FMN Board of Directors, Paul Gbededo, while commenting on the Group’s performance and its vision for the future, said despite the prevailing challenges around the world especially as global economies struggled to recover amidst supply chain disruptions caused by the prolonged effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and worsened by the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Group has delivered another impressive performance.

He noted that businesses and consumers in Africa are facing significant peculiar and aggregate economic challenges over the increasing volatility of the global economy.

“Our group aims to counteract some of these headwinds by remaining committed to increasing the local content of its inputs and outputs. Undoubtedly, the need to add value further upstream on the supply chain and lessen dependency on imported raw materials has become more crucial.

“Similarly, following best practices, we are developing a flexible and agile route to market strategy by investing in expanding and improving our group-wide sales. Marketing, and distribution capabilities,” he stated looking ahead.

“The company has been doing fantastically well. Our business has been progressively improving, especially in the last five years, and for a company to achieve over a trillion naira as the topline, I think we have come of age.

“Indeed, this is a very good result for the company and shareholders. We appreciate the commendation by the shareholders and shall also seriously consider their observations in growing the Company even greater”, he said.

Also commenting on the Group’s investment in local content development, the Group’s Managing Director/CEO, Boye Olusanya noted: “As a leading food and agro-allied Group, we have always felt the need to be involved in all stages of the food value chain. We believe it is crucial to securing our supply chain, as it ensures that we have total quality control over our production process and can continue to deliver the highest quality and nutritious products to our consumers. And that is why we have, over the years, continued to invest heavily in backward integration in accordance with the mandates of Nigeria’s Backward Integration Plan (BIP)”.