South Africa’s largest food company, Tiger Brands is writing off about half of its $190-million investment in Dangote Flour Mills less than two years after buying a 63.5-percent stake in the Nigeria-based company, BusinessDayOnline reports.

Africa’s second-largest consumer food maker, Tiger Brands has been trying to make money out of Dangote Flour Mills as it struggles with tough competition and weak margins.

On Thursday, Tiger Brands wrote off $82 million. Dangote Flour had a $17.4-million quarterly loss in February as it struggled with competition that forced it to heavily discount its products, according to BusinessDayOnline.

Tiger Brands is expanding further into the rest of Africa to offset slow growth at home, where debt-laden consumers are cutting back on spending and a weaker rand pushes up costs.

“The company continues to believe that Nigeria is central to its expansionary ambitions,” Tiger Brands said in a statement.

The company said first-half headline earnings per share – which exclude the write off – would increase by 5 percent to 9 percent as it grapples with high input costs and slowing consumer spending.