Dangote Cement Plc has posted a 42.97 per cent increase in profit after tax for the financial year ended December 2017.
The company’s financials released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, indicated that the group posted profit after tax of N204.248 billion in 2017 as against N142.858 billion recorded a year earlier, representing an increase of 42.97 per cent.
The company recommended N178.9 billion dividend payout to the shareholders for the year ended, an increase of 23.5 per cent.
The amount will translate to N10.50 per share as against a dividend of N8.70 kobo per share that was paid in the corresponding period of 2016.
The company’s group revenue grew by 31 per cent, from N615.1 billion in 2016 to N805.6 billion, earnings per share rose to N11.65 compared to N8.78 at the previous year, indicating an increase of 32.7 per cent.
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 per cent while that from Pan-African operations rose by 32.5 per cent.
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.
Acting Group Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Joe Makoju, speaking on the results, said:
“Dangote Cement turned in a record year with revenues up 31.0 per cent to N805.6bn and EBITDA up by 50.9 per cent to N388.1bn. 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 footprint from eight countries to ten 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. A fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer, with a production capacity of 29.25Mta in its home market, Nigeria.
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