Honeywell Flour Mills Plc has grown its revenue to N9.3 billion, according to a statement on the company’s first quarter unaudited results for the period ended June 2011.

This feat, achieved despite the tough operating environment, was an increase of two per cent over the revenue of N9.16 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2010.

The company experienced a challenging first quarter, characterised by rising global prices of agricultural commodities; increasing freight and energy costs; and naira depreciation.

This is also coming  as the company stepped up preparation towards completing its over N10 billion (about $65 million) state-of-the art twin mill facility, at its current site, with combined capacity of 1,000MT/day to enable it meet growing demand for its range of products.

The first of the twin mills is expected to go into production by May 2012 and the second by September 2012.

In the just released first quarter results, sales of the company’s bread flour, semolina and whole wheat maintained strong performance.

Honeywell Superfine flour accounted for the bulk of earnings, while sales of Honeywell Semolina grew by nine per cent during the quarter, Honeywell Wheat Meal maintained its distant number one position in the market.

Honeywell pasta and Honeywell noodles from the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Honeywell Superfine Foods Limited, accounted for 21 per cent of total product sales in the quarter compared to the 20 per cent contribution in the same period in 2010.

The Company also grew its total assets by 14 per cent from N31.1 billion as at 30 June 2010 to N35.3 billion as at 30 June 2011 while it grew fixed assets by 10 per cent from N12.6 billion to N13.9 billion within the same periods.

However, Profit before Tax (PBT) and Profit After Tax (PAT) both declined by 82 per cent when compared to the performance of the equivalent quarter in 2010.

PBT dropped from N881 million to N162 million while PAT fell from N503 million to N91 million. Management is of the opinion that the next quarter results will reflect an improvement over the first quarter results.

The marginal growth in turnover was due to slow trading experienced during the election season and the heavy rains and constant traffic congestion in Apapa, where the factory is located.

This made it very difficult for customers, delivery trucks and even staff to access the factory in a time efficient manner.