1. Tiger Brands took another write down at its money-losing Nigerian unit, Dangote Flour Mills Plc. Tiger Brands Acquired Dangote Flour Mills in 2012 and increased the stake to 100% earlier this year.
2. Tiger Brands, which makes pasta, energy drinks and breakfast cereal, wrote off $9.5 million of factory assets at Dangote Flour Mills following a review of utilisation levels.
3. The impairment comes within a year of a separate $82.5m write down
4. Dangote Flour Mills reported a a full-year pre-tax loss of N9.28 billion, 11 percent wider than the year before.
5. Tiger Brands has been trying to turn profit from Dangote Flour since paying nearly $200 million for a controlling stake two years ago as part of broader plan to expand into the rest of Africa to offset slow growth in South Africa.
6. As part of a turnaround plan of Dangote Flour, Tiger Brands has closed two of its five mills, including one in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano, which has been the target of several bombings by Boko Haram Islamist insurgents.
7. Tiger Brands’ head of grains unit Noel Doyle, who also looks after Dangote Flour, said the business was unlikely to make any profit until after 2016.
8. In a separate statement, Dangote Flour said the introduction of high-margin items to the production line and further topline growth would help reduce losses next year.
Source: Reuters
