On Tuesday, BUA Group listed a consolidated entity known as BUA Foods, a combination of its five food businesses comprising pasta, edible oil, sugar, rice, and flour on the Nigerian Exchange Limited by introduction at N40.00/s. The total shares admitted to trading were 18.0bn units of shares, with a market capitalization of N720.0bn upon listing.
This marks the first listing on the NGX in 2022. Given the great enthusiasm that trailed the stock listing, it closed at N44.0/s (8th most capitalized stock on the exchange). BUA Foods has a 1.5million MTPA Combined Sugar Production Capacity, eight ultramodern factories for producing rice, sugar, pasta, flour and 20,000 hectares of arable land located in Lafiagi, Kwara State.
Sugar Refining
The Group currently has 2 ultra-modern and automated sugar refineries (BUA Sugar Refinery, Lagos and Eastern Sugar Refinery, Port Harcourt) with a combined installed refining capacity of 1,500,000 metric tonnes. BUA is the only sugar refiner to have refining capabilities outside Lagos, Nigeria. In response to Nigeria’s backward integration policy in the Sugar Industry, BUA Group acquired the Lafiagi Sugar Company (LASUCO) in Kwara state in 2008 and established the Bassa Sugar Company in Kogi State. The Group also has c.70,000ha of land in both locations to set up large-scale sugar plantations to aid the development of Nigeria’s local sugar industry. Its closest competitor is Dangote Sugar.
Flour Milling
Flour is a Nigerian staple. Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc is one of the largest flour milling companies in Nigeria with an installed flour milling capacity of approximately 9,310 metric tonnes per day at its Apapa milling site in Lagos. The company recently announced plans to acquire Honeywell Flourmills. BUA IRS Flour has established a state-of-the-art plant in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to cater to the growing needs of its population. The plant currently has
576,000 tons of flour milling capacity. Its closest competitors are Flour Mills of Nigeria, Honeywell Flour Mills, and Olam.
Oil Milling
In 2001, BUA Group acquired Nigeria Oil Mills, an oil milling company in Kano, established in 1951. This is in addition to its BUA Oil Mills in Lagos, which was established in 2008, are the two major companies from which the group produces edible oil ranging from groundnut to cotton seeds oil. The company also produces animal feeds and soap. BUA Oil Mills makes high-quality products including palm olein, stearin, Distilled Fatty Acid (DFA) amongst others.
Rice Milling and Plantation
Rice is a staple food in Nigeria, and domestic demand still exceeds supply despite government efforts at boosting supply. BUA Group currently operates a mill in Kano and a rice plantation in Kano, Nigeria. The Group also operates an out-growers Scheme targeting about 100,000 rice farmers in Kano and Jigawa State, Nigeria.
The mill is the largest in Nigeria at 200,000 tonnes per annum and is currently being upgraded to 1million metric
tonnes per annum. BUA Rice plantation is estimated to cover a landmass of about 10,000 hectares. Olam Rice, and Royal Stallion are the competitors for the Rice business.
