In total, Nigerian companies paid about N989 billion as dividends in the first 9 months of the year. Dangote Cement was responsible for N272 billion of that amount, with MTN paying N212.7 billion.
The N989 billion paid in dividends showed a 27% increase from the same period in 2020. A record of dividends paid by Nigerian companies who have been publicly quoted is maintained by Nairalytics, with the companies including 30 of some of the most capitalized companies on the stock exchange who had paid dividends in 2020 and the current year.
Some companies pay dividends from their full-year profits while others pay twice in the year, first out of their full-year profits and secondly from their half-year profits. Some dividends are also paid out of retained earnings, in the event where companies do not publicly declare their profits.
The data collected for the companies showed that Dangote Cement and MTN were the leading dividend payers in the year, with the companies paying N272 billion and N212.7 billion respectively. Dangote Cement shareholders did not record any significant increase in their dividend payments, while MTN shareholders saw a 23% increase in dividend payments. No other companies paid up to N100 billion in dividends during the year.
Zenith Bank paid N94.2 billion in dividends, coming in as the third highest paying company during the year. GTCO and BUA Cement rounded up the top five, paying N79.5 billion and N70 billion in dividends respectively.
Stanbic IBTC paid N54 billion in dividends to come in as sixth, while Access Bank and Nestle paid N30.2 billion and N27.5 billion respectively, making seventh and eighth. Lafarge and Seplat rounded up the top 10 dividend payers, paying N24.7 billion and N23.1 billion respectively.
In total, the top ten companies paid a combined N888.1 billion in dividends.
A growth in dividend payment, especially in a year heavily hit by the coronavirus pandemic shows resilience in the financials of some of Nigeria’s largest companies.
