Dangote Cement Grows 2017 Profit by 43%

• Dangote Cement Grows 2017 Profit by 43%

Dangote Cement Plc has posted a group net profit of N204.25bn for the year ended December 31, 2017, representing a growth of 43 per cent compared to the previous year’s figure of N142.86bn.

The group revenue also grew by 31 per cent from N615.1bn in 2016 to N805.6bn while earnings per share rose to N11.65 compared to N8.78 at the previous year, indicating an increase of 32.7 per cent.

The company’s directors recommended an increase of 23.5 per cent in the dividend payout to shareholders, which translated to N178.9bn as against a dividend of N8.70 kobo per share that was paid in the corresponding period of 2016.

In the financial report filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, sales from the three plants in Nigeria contributed N552.36bn to the group revenue, and the balance of N258.44bn was accounted for by plants in other African countries. Revenue attributable to Nigeria grew by 29.6 per cent while that of pan-African operations rose by 32.5 per cent.

Though group sales volumes were lower by seven per cent due to a depressed Nigerian market, pan-African sales volumes went up by 8.4 per cent to 9.4 metric tonnes with strong volume increases in Senegal, Ethiopia and Cameroon and new capacities of 1.5Mta in Congo, and 0.5 Mta in Sierra Leone.