06 January 2009
MUSCAT -- The public joint stock Oman Flour Mills (OFM) has announced plans to set up an investment firm to manage its growing portfolio of existing investments and new projects. The new subsidiary will be established with a capital of RO 150,000, the company said in a notification to the Muscat Securities Market (MSM). According to a senior company representative, the yet to be-named subsidiary will contribute to the "rationalisation" of OFM's growing and increasingly diverse business activities. The objective is to segregate the operations of OFM from our other activities existing and forthcoming, said Salim Khairulla, OFM's Finance Manager. The new investment company will manage all of these other projects for OFM, he added in comments to the Observer.
OFM has ambitious plans to diversify its business activities into a number of bakery, poultry, and milling related areas. These initiatives will be overseen by the new investment subsidiary on behalf of OFM, Khairulla said. Oman Flour Mills recently established a subsidiary firm 'Bread House LLC', which has obtained a franchise to market frozen bakery products in the Sultanate. The company has also launched work on an 'industrial bakery' that will provide quality bakery products to the local market. The new venture is expected to start commercial production by end 2009.
In addition, OFM is firming up plans to develop a major flour mill at the Port of Sohar to cater to the growth in demand for its range of products. The proposed 300 metrics tons-per-day-capacity flour mill will help further boost OFM's current market share of 65 per cent. A technical and financial study has already identified the potential for a new mill, with the Port of Sohar seen as an ideal location for the project, which is due to be operational in a couple of years. In November last year, the company announced the signing of a preliminary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the IFFCO Group of the United Arab Emirates for the establishment of a poultry project near the Oman/UAE border.
The project, currently under study, will cater to the regional market, according to the company. OFM's Muscat-based flour milling operation itself has grown considerably since the company's establishment in 1977. A succession of expansions has boosted flour milling capacity from 150 tons per day to around 800 tons per day at present. The company also operates a substantial grain storage facility of 120,000 tons, as well as a ship unloading facility of a capacity of 500 tons per hour, at Port Sultan Qaboos. OFM reported a 21 per cent increase in its sales turnover for the third quarter of last year, ended September 30, 2008, compared to volumes achieved during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
MUSCAT -- The public joint stock Oman Flour Mills (OFM) has announced plans to set up an investment firm to manage its growing portfolio of existing investments and new projects. The new subsidiary will be established with a capital of RO 150,000, the company said in a notification to the Muscat Securities Market (MSM). According to a senior company representative, the yet to be-named subsidiary will contribute to the "rationalisation" of OFM's growing and increasingly diverse business activities. The objective is to segregate the operations of OFM from our other activities existing and forthcoming, said Salim Khairulla, OFM's Finance Manager. The new investment company will manage all of these other projects for OFM, he added in comments to the Observer.
OFM has ambitious plans to diversify its business activities into a number of bakery, poultry, and milling related areas. These initiatives will be overseen by the new investment subsidiary on behalf of OFM, Khairulla said. Oman Flour Mills recently established a subsidiary firm 'Bread House LLC', which has obtained a franchise to market frozen bakery products in the Sultanate. The company has also launched work on an 'industrial bakery' that will provide quality bakery products to the local market. The new venture is expected to start commercial production by end 2009.
In addition, OFM is firming up plans to develop a major flour mill at the Port of Sohar to cater to the growth in demand for its range of products. The proposed 300 metrics tons-per-day-capacity flour mill will help further boost OFM's current market share of 65 per cent. A technical and financial study has already identified the potential for a new mill, with the Port of Sohar seen as an ideal location for the project, which is due to be operational in a couple of years. In November last year, the company announced the signing of a preliminary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the IFFCO Group of the United Arab Emirates for the establishment of a poultry project near the Oman/UAE border.
The project, currently under study, will cater to the regional market, according to the company. OFM's Muscat-based flour milling operation itself has grown considerably since the company's establishment in 1977. A succession of expansions has boosted flour milling capacity from 150 tons per day to around 800 tons per day at present. The company also operates a substantial grain storage facility of 120,000 tons, as well as a ship unloading facility of a capacity of 500 tons per hour, at Port Sultan Qaboos. OFM reported a 21 per cent increase in its sales turnover for the third quarter of last year, ended September 30, 2008, compared to volumes achieved during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
By Conrad Prabhu
© Oman Daily Observer 2009
