Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
A leading cement firm in Nigeria, Dangote Cement Plc, has proposed to pay its shareholders a final dividend of N20 for the 2022 accounting year.
This was announced by the company in a statement signed by its acting scribe, Mr Edward Imoedemhe.
It was stated that the cash reward would be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as of March 30, 2023, and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts on April 14, 2023.
However, for the money to be paid, shareholders must approve the payment at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 13, 2023, at 11.00 am at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos.
In the financial statements of the organisation for 2022, the gross earnings increased to N1.6 trillion from the N1.4 trillion recorded in the preceding year due to the higher revenue generated from cement and clinker sales, with a significant chunk coming from the domestic market.
This improvement in the earnings helped the cement maker record a higher gross profit despite a significant increase in the cost of sales, which jumped to N662.9 billion in the period under review compared with the N551.0 billion achieved a year earlier.
The gross profit stood at N995.4 billion in FY 2022, in contrast to N832.6 billion it was in FY 2021.
However, the other income went down to N5.3 billion from N6.2 billion, while profit from operating activities marginally rose to N585.9 billion from N582.5 billion.
In the period under review, the administrative expenses of the firm surged to N79.9 billion from N64.4 billion as a result of an increase in the salaries and related-staff costs to N25.1 billion from N15.9 billion, directors’ remuneration to N1.8 billion from N1.4 billion, security expenses to N2.9 billion from N2.2 billion, and janitorial and office cleaning costs to N1.4 billion from N897 million, among others.
In the year, the finance income grew to N38.7 billion from N20.8 billion, as the finance costs surged to N130.4 billion from N65.7 billion.
A look at the company’s bottom line showed that the pre-tax profit declined by 2.68 per cent to N524.0 billion from N538.4 billion, while the post-tax profit went up by 4.91 per cent to N382.3 billion from N364.4 billion.
