Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, the country’s biggest miller by market value, rose the most in 14 months as a stake sale to Lafarge Africa Plc last year buoyed profit.
The shares jumped 10 percent to 19.88 naira by 1:02 p.m. in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, the biggest advance since Dec. 3, 2014. Net income for the nine months through December rose to 19 billion naira ($95.3 million) compared with 3.3 billion naira a year earlier, the Lagos-based company said in a statement published Wednesday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s website.
Flour Mills’ profit “arose from exceptional income of about 24 billion naira from the stake sale,” which is a big leap in a period of economic downturn, Efemena Esalomi, a consumer analyst at Vetiva Capital Management Ltd., said by phone from Lagos.
Flour Mills’ shares have declined 4.4 percent this year compared to a 17 percent retreat by the 179-member Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index.
