First Mills secures SAR 630 mn loan from Saudi Awwal Bank

First Mills taps SAB for a long-term bank facility: Homegrown milling firm First Mills lined up a SAR 630 mn long-term, shariah-compliant loan with the Saudi Awwal Bank to support the firm’s operational activities, development and expansion efforts, according to a statement to Tadawul. The facility is backed by promissory notes and will be available until the end of December 2035.

Where’s the money going? The facility will go towards financing debt repayments, working capital requirements, bank guarantee facilities, and letters of credit (when required), the statement adds.

Making moves: The General Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (Modon) signed an agreement with the First Mills to invest SAR 80 mn in a 54k sqm plot last month. The company received board approval to set up a SAR 123 mn flour milling unit in its Al Qassim plant back in December.

The bigger picture: First Mills reported a 13.9% y-o-y increase net income in 2024 to SAR 250.9 mn, buoyed by higher feed and flour sales, expanding margins for small-packed products, improvements in cost-efficiency, and optimization of liquidity management. Meanwhile, revenues for the year grew 8.8% y-o-y to SAR 1.1 bn, pushed by stronger feed and flour sales, higher gross income (up 10.4% y-o-y), and better product mixes and pricing strategies.

REMEMBER- First Mills was the first milling company to go public in May 2023 with a USD 266 mn IPO, as part of the government’s efforts to privatize the sector.