Nigeria: Food Concepts PLC prepares for capital market

Lagos / NG. (nb) Owing to the need to expand its business services and serve customers better, Food Concept and Entertainment PLC, is making adequate preparations to list its initial public offer on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. CEO Dele Akinyanju said to «Nigerian Bullentin» the board of the company is still contemplating on the amount of shares to make public while waiting for approval from the capital market. Akinyanju noted that the company just concluded a private placement and it became a public limited company on July 09, 2008.

Food Concept and Entertainment PLC is a leading chicken company in Nigeria. It began operations in 2001 and can now boast of 22 chicken stores. It is also the largest producer of bread in the country with the production of 75’000 loaves of Butterfield bread a day through its bakeries in Lagos, Benin, Port Harcourt and Abeokuta.

Food Concepts introduced Butterfield into Nigeria in 2003 as a bread and bakery brand under a master franchise agreement with the South African Butterfield Holdings (Pty) Limited. The first two bakeries were introduced in 2003. As at May 2008, Food Concepts has a total of nine bakeries spread across Nigeria. Butterfield bread is now widely accepted in Nigeria and is available for sale in major cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Benin, Warri, Port Harcourt and Ilorin.

In 2007, the company baked and sold over twelve million loaves of bread. It´s plan is to at least double this target every year over the next five years. Food Concept plans to achieve this aggressive growth through both organic and partnerships with franchisees.