Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is set to receive a dividend of N295 billion ($640.6 million) from his cement company Dangote Cement following another stellar performance at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.
The $640.6million dividend, which will be paid directly from Dangote Cement’s retained earnings of N969.48 billion ($2.1 billion) as of Dec. 31, 2022, is higher than the annual government expenditures of African countries such as Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Malawi.
Dangote Cement is Africa’s largest cement producer, with a total production capacity of 51.55 million tonnes of cement per year across 10 countries.
Under the leadership of Dangote, the world’s richest Black man, who owns an 86 percent stake in the cement company, the leading cement manufacturer delivered a strong financial performance at the end of its fiscal year 2022.
The group reported a 4.9percent increase in profits from N364.44 billion to N382.31 billion ($830.3 million) due to higher revenue and the successful negotiation of its tax expense down to N142.7 billion ($310 million) from N173.9 billion ($377.7 million) the previous year.
During the period under review, the Dangote led cement company reported a 17percent increase in revenue from a record of N1.38 trillion ($3 billion) in 2021 to a new all-time high of N1.62 trillion ($3.52 billion), owing to higher cement sales in the second half of 2022 and pricing benefits from the year’s rise in cement prices.
In line with its longstanding tradition of rewarding shareholders with substantial dividend payouts, the board of directors of Dangote Cement recommended a dividend of N20 ($0.0434) per share, which is the same as the dividend paid to shareholders in 2022.
The final dividend payout, which is scheduled for April 14, will see Dangote, who holds an 86percent majority stake in the cement company receive a dividend of N295 billion ($640.6 million).
The payout reaffirms the company’s commitment to creating value for its shareholders and providing them with attractive returns on their investments.
Also, Halima Aliko-Dangote, Aliko Dangote’s daughter will get N10 million in dividends. The billionaire’s daughter has total shareholdings worth N500,000 out of N15.04 billion total shares of the company which is 3 percent of total shares outstanding of the company.
Halima Aliko-Dangote is the group executive director Commercial of Dangote Industries Limited (Dangote Group). She was formerly an executive director, sales, and marketing, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, a one-time subsidiary of Dangote Group.
Halima Aliko-Dangote is a graduate of the American Intercontinental University, London, United Kingdom, and Webster Business School, in the UK where she obtained an MBA.
She has attended a number of high-profile leadership developmentprograms including, the Programme for Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School, Executive Development Programme at the Kellogg School of Management and Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Executive, Columbia Business School.
Halima Aliko-Dangote joined DIL in 2008 and served as special assistant to the President & Chief Executive, with a wide span of responsibilities including providing technical support and advising on strategy and management decisions.
As an Executive Director of DIL, she is responsible for enhancing the performance of DIL’s subsidiaries by ensuring shared services across companies; supporting capital-raising initiatives; and putting in place, Group-wide human resources and administration policies and systems.
Halima Aliko-Dangote started her career as a Business Analyst with KPMG Professional Services in Lagos, Nigeria. She is spearheading the expansion drive of DIL, which is poised to become a Fortune 100 Company within the next few years.
Lafarge, Nestle, Seplat to pay dividends
More companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited have released their final audited report for the 2022 financial year.
Nestle in its financial report announced a final dividend of N36.50 per 50kobo ordinary share. It also earned revenue of N446.8bn, an increase of 27 per cent over the N351.8bn recorded in the previous accounting year.
The multinational also declared N48.96bn profit for the year, marking an increase of 22 per cent over the N40bn recorded in 2021.
For construction company Lafarge, a final dividend of 200 kobo per unit of 50kobo ordinary shares was announced in a notice signed by the General Counsel and Company Secretary, Adewunmi Alode.
The company also declared a revenue of N373.3bn (2021 figure: N293bn) and a profit-after- tax of N53.6bn, which was a 5.2 percent increase over the figure recorded in 2021, which was N51bn.
In his comments in the report, the Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Africa, Khaled Dokani, lamented the effect of the exchange rate on its growth.
He said, “In 2022, we recorded 27.3 per cent and 29.3 per cent improvement in net sales and recurring earnings before interest, tax respectively, compared to FY 2021 results. The worsening exchange rate situation led to revaluation losses, thereby constraining our Net Income growth to 5.2 per cent.
Energy company Seplat, in its audited financial report, recorded a final dividend of $0.025 (2.5 cents) per ordinary share of N0.50k each, and a special dividend of $0.05/share (five cents) per ordinary share of N0.50k each.
Seplat recorded a 29.8 per cent increase in its revenue from $733.2m in 2021 to $951.8mn recorded in 2022.
Meanwhile, Lafarge had revealed that a director, Mrs Virginie Darbo, had resigned with effect from 24th February 2023. Darbo was appointed to the board on 11th December 2020 and served as a non-executive director of the company until her resignation.
Darbo has been replaced with Ms Sonal Shrivastava as a non-executive director of the company with effect from 25th February 2023.
Shrivastava is currently the regional chief financial officer at Holcim Group, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, based in Mumbai. At Holcim, she is responsible for the group’s overall finance, accounting and tax functions in the region
Sources:Businessday
