Page 16 - Honeywell Annual Report 2021 comm 10 09 v17a.cdr

Managing Director’s Q&A Cont’d

about 450 people with 1,000 more indirectly engaged Mills transition to become Honeywell Foods. Our aim is
in and around the community. to offer a portfolio of food products manufactured
from a wide range of raw materials drawn from local
The year highlighted our agility in many ways. In order sources that offer good nutrition and contribute to a
not to completely pass on significant increases in input healthier and balanced life. Our aim also aligns with the
costs to the customer, we accelerated the Federal Government’s commitment to achieve the
implementation of initiatives that improved efficiency. United Nation’s 2030 Agenda of Sustainable
Our ambition to become an advantaged low-cost Development Goals that seeks to ensure access to
producer led to a 4% reduction in OPEX despite the safe, nutritious and sufficient food.
double-digit inflation observed during the period. This
resulted in the operating profit growing at a faster rate
than revenue at 39% to N7.6 billion. Profit after tax How will this new strategic direction
improved significantly by 73% to N1.1 billion even as strengthen Honeywell Flour Mills?
we were able to retain some of the value generated
At Honeywell, we strongly believe in the power of
from top line growth.
innovation and technology. Our success is based upon
our ability to continuously reinvent ourselves and our
The incredible efforts of people whether on the factory
determination to maximise opportunities to help
floor, or from a home office, enabled us to continue to
work quickly and safely during the period. And despite address national challenges. The next phase of our
development is to be at the forefront of the
all the uncertainty, our people were more engaged,
carbohydrate industry, providing affordable, nutritious
with engagement scores rising by 17 per cent points
foods to our fast-growing population. Huge strategic
over last financial year’s engagement score. Significant
opportunity exists for us in the development and
improvement in career development and reward
positively impacted employee engagement and trust commercialization of modern formats of indigenous
carbohydrates, and we have commenced the
level across the organization. As well as the many ways
development of an exciting opportunity in the
in which we worked with speed and agility, we
indigenous tubers category that will significantly
continued to future-proof the capital value of the
broaden our business base and serve as a source to
business by ensuring transfer of responsibility,
knowledge and ownership of key business processes, generate foreign exchange through export. We have
also identified 4 other scalable food categories that will
to the next generation of leadership. I want to record
be developed over the next 10 years. These categories
my appreciation and admiration for all our people did to
have both consumer and industrial food processing
keep the business moving forward during such a
applications and provide us with potential for export.
challenging period.
Ability to efficiently source raw materials is key to our
Have the events of the last financial year strategy and as a result, we are establishing an agro-
helped to re-focus Honeywell’s strategy? focused Strategic Business Unit [SBU] that will have
responsibility for local sourcing and working with
Our strategic vision was conceived and has been in farmers/ other stakeholders to assure supply.
place for some years whereby we identified 5 core Honeywell Foods in the medium term will be required
areas of focus. However, the last eighteen months to make investments in commercial farming to assure
have shown that expectations are changing as supply of a percentage of its input requirements. We
consumers embrace new trends, habits and lifestyles. are committed to promoting better agricultural
In addition, our industry has developed from practices and addressing local supply chain issues.
production of flours for bakeries and biscuits makers Also, we are developing a high performing route to
into a fast-growing food industry. Around the corner market that focuses on the right markets, with
comes African Continental Free Trade Area [AfCFTA], a alignment to the behaviours and needs of the
reality in 12-18 months offering opportunities and consumers in those markets. We will also deepen our
equally new threats. We are responding by sharpening research and development capabilities in order to
our focus and strengthening our efforts to continue to ensure we drive growth and continuous improvement
create value. Consequently, we have commenced a 10- throughout the portfolio.
year evolutionary journey that will see Honeywell Flour

World of Possibilities HONEYWELL FLOUR MILLS | ANNUAL REPORT | 2021 17