Niger Delta
Fan Plc Invests N700m For Facilities’ Upgrade
The Fan Milk Plc said it had invested N700 million to improve its facilities in the area of freezing capacity with the purchase of a new 1500KVA generator.
The Managing Director, Mr. Jens Mollenbach, announced this in Benin last Thursday at the company’s award to its agents in the Eastern Zone.
He said that the company had expanded its production capacity and developed a new depot to serve its agents and customers better.
Mollenbach said that the new Fan Vanilla introduced this year was an “over whelming success”.
The managing director said that the company was at the verge of establishing a mega distribution centre in Benin to cater for its customers in the eastern operational area.
Mollonbach said that the depressed crude oil prices, the international and the country’s banking crises, which started June/July last year, resulted in less liquidity and a reduction in economic activities had impacted negatively on Fan.
He added that the liquidity squeeze coupled with the devaluation of the naira against the dollar and the devaluation of the dollar against the euro had similarly impacted negatively on the company’s results.
According to Mollenbach, the consequences have been increase in the company’s cost of production, made worse by the company’s reliance on generators for more than 60 per cent of its production lines.
He said that for the company to maintain its market margin and survive, it was forced to increase the prices of its products in February 2009.
“Regrettably, however, the weather was unfavourable for the sale of fan milk products during the period under review and as a result, the company recorded reduction in sales volume and stagnant turn over.
The National Sales Manager, Fan Milk Plc, Mrs Vicky Madu, said that the company was making proactive efforts to provide incentives to agents of the company to enhance sales.
She said the incentives included among others, cycles, pushcarts, tricycles, freezers, beech umbrellas and cool buses.
She said the year 2010 would witness more sales support strategies and mechanisms which would translate into huge sales volume.
A total of 33 agents who recorded N500,000 monthly sales turn over and above were rewarded by the company during the event with various gift items ranging from coolers to deep freezers.