Shareholders of Dangote Cement Plc are surely in for a good deal as the company’s directors have recommended N10.75 dividend payout for the year ended on December 31 2017 as against N8.70 paid in 2016.
In absolute terms, the figure translates to N178.9 billion as the company’s group revenue grew by 31 percent from N615.1 billion in 2016 to N805.6 billion, while its net profit rose by 43 per cent, from N142.86 billion to N204.25 billion. Earnings per share rose to N11.65 compared to N8.78 at the previous year indicating an increase of 32.7 percent.
A breakdown of the report indicated that while sales from the three plants in Nigeria contributed N552.36 billion to the group’s revenue, the balance of N258.44 billion was accounted for by plants in other African countries. Revenue attributable to Nigeria grew by 29.6 percent while that from Pan-African operations rose by 32.5 percent.
Though group sales volumes were lower by seven per cent due to depressed Nigerian market, pan-African sales volumes went up by 8.4 per cent to 9.4Mt with strong volume increases in Senegal, Ethiopia and Cameroon and new capacities of 1.5Mta in Congo, 0.5Mta in Sierra Leone.
Its acting Group Chief Executive Officer, Joe Makoju, speaking on the results said: “Dangote Cement turned in a record year with revenues up by 31 percent to N805.6bn and EBITDA up by 50.9 per cent to N388.1billion. Although Nigerian volumes were lower in 2017, our Pan-African operations increased volumes by 8.4 per cent and now make up 42 per cent of the Group’s total cement sales, demonstrating the robust diversification of our business.
“We expanded our footprints from eight countries to 10 with the opening of new facilities in the Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, while our operations in Cameroon, Senegal and Ethiopia achieved strong sales growth during the year. With total sales volumes of nearly 22 million tonnes, we are by far the leading manufacturer of cement in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46Mta capacity across Africa.