Home cooking drives NFM Q1 profits up 74%

All those online doubles and roti making quarantine challenges have paid off – at least for National Flour Mills (NFM).

Increased home cooking and baking among the population in lockdown spurred NFM to a 73.8 per cent boost in profits for the first quarter ended March 31.

In its financial statements, published Tuesday, the state enterprise recorded a $7 million profit for the first quarter 2020 versus $4 million the same period last year.

Despite the overall economic challenges, including a general global slowdown, NFM reported that its supply chain remains robust. It has, however, reported increased price volatility in the grain markets due to changing views on the impact of covid19 and economic uncertainty on demand and consumption patterns.

As the quarantine cooking and baking surged, the company also took the opportunity to market its brands online, resulting in a noticeable boost in revenue – $105.2 million or ten per cent up from 2019.

The company also continues with plant improvement and is scheduled to upgrade packaging equipment later this year to allow for greater efficiency through automation and an expanded product range.

A planned safe quality food (SQF) certification audit in April has been postponed because of covid19 and a new date will be set when things return to some semblance of normalcy the company said.