Rating Release

Agusto & Co. downgrades Zeenab Foods Limited’s ratings to “A-” (long-term) and “A1” (short-term), with a stable outlook. 

The rating expires on 30 June 2027. 

Agusto & Co. hereby downgrades the ratings assigned to Zeenab Foods Limited (“Zeenab Foods”, “ZFL” or “the Company”) to “A-” (long-term) and “A1” (short-term). The downgrade reflects ZFL’s elevated leverage position — driven by increased borrowings to fund working capital needs — as well as persistent working capital pressures linked to the seasonal nature of its operations and the susceptibility of its future earnings to price and currency volatility. Notwithstanding these pressures, the rating continues to be supported by ZFL’s sustained profitability — with returns on assets and equity remaining above our internal benchmarks despite margin pressure from the Federal Government’s ban on the export of raw shea nut and elevated input costs across its major commodity lines — as well as its expanding product portfolio and diversified earnings streams, the expansion of the Company’s rice milling capacity to 180 metric tonnes per day, and the planned acquisition of a shea butter processing facility in Ogun State, which is expected to enhance local value addition in response to the government’s restriction on raw shea nut exports.

Established in 2011, Zeenab Foods Limited is an agro-commodity processor and trader. The Company’s paddy rice milling capacity now stands at 180 metric tonnes (MT) per day, up from 120 MT per day, following the commissioning of its second production in 2025. ZFL also processes other agro commodities such as beans, millet, cassia tora, cocoa and shea nut for sales in the local and international markets. The Company operates two factories located in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) and Kano State, and is on the verge of acquiring a shea butter processing facility in Ogun State to further enhance its local processing capacity and strengthen value addition in the shea nut segment. This move follows the Federal Government’s ban on the export of raw shea nut (in August 2025) — aimed at encouraging local processing and value addition. Zeenab Foods also supplies grains and other agro commodities to international donor agencies like the United Nation’s World Food Programme (UN WFP) to support various humanitarian interventions. In 2022, ZFL was appointed the operator of the Nigerian Export House in China and commissioned a liaison office in Lagos on 17 April 2024 to drive export volumes in line with the government’s plan to promote the growth of the non-oil sectors of the Nigerian economy.