LAGOS: Dangote Flour Mills said on Friday its 2013 first quarter loss before tax widened to 1.75 billion naira ($11 million) as against a loss of 90 million in the same period a year ago, sending its shares tumbling.
Shares in the Nigerian unit of South Africa's Tiger Brands , fell 1.38 percent to 9.23 naira per share at 1100 GMT on the local bourse. The main index was down 0.28 percent.
Gross margin at the flour and pasta maker fell by half to 9.9 percent, company data in the first three months showed, as cost of sales rose faster than the rise in revenues.
Turnover at the flour and pasta maker rose to 14.05 billion naira in the three months, compared with 13.79 billion naira in the same period last year, it said in a filing through the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
On Thursday, Dangote Flour Mills also reported a full year loss before tax of 4 billion naira ($25 mln) for 2012.
"Dangote Flour Mills will not be a quick fix," analysts at Renaissance Capital wrote in a note, forecasting a return to profitability next year with full year profit before tax of 1.65 billion naira.
Rencap are estimating a 2013 full year loss of 3.63 billion naira for the company. Last year, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote sold 63 percent of Dangote Flour to South African consumer goods firm Tiger Brands in a deal worth $188 million.
Tiger Brands, a maker of bread, breakfast cereal and energy drinks, expanded outside its home base last year with acquisitions in Nigeria and Ethiopia to tap into other fast-growing African markets outside of South Africa.
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