Economy
Dangote Cement Pays N144.8b Dividend to Shareholders
By Dipo Olowookere
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Dangote Cement Plc, the pay-out of N144.8 billion dividend to its shareholders was approved, which represented N8.50k per share in contrast to N8 per share paid to them in the corresponding period of 2015.
This excited the shareholders, who could not hide their joy and were full of praise for the board, management and staff of Dangote Cement Plc for giving them good returns for the investments.
“We are very happy and pleased with this result. The year 2016 was very tough with the recession and fluctuation in the foreign exchange market which the Chairman also said affected their operations, but despite all these challenges, the company was still able to pay us a very good dividend, better than last year, and even gave us hope of better returns on our investments in the years to come. This is very commendable and it is only a company like Dangote Cement that can achieve this laudable feat,” President of Amiable Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr Festus Akano, enthused.
Also at the meeting held in Lagos, another shareholder, Mr Akin Akinwumi, from the Progressive Shareholders Association urged the management to give a bonus and a better dividend in 2017.
He appealed to the company to do all within its power to give bonus issue.
“We thank the management for giving us this dividend but we are appealing so strongly that bonus issue should also be considered. For some of us, we prefer a bonus to this dividend and we know it can be done,” Mr Akinwunmi said.
He expressed optimism on the pan African plants, especially now that the plants were contributing significantly to the turnover of the company.
“It is a statement of fact that we are lucky to be shareholders of this great company. If you see what our subsidiaries across Africa are contributing to the turnover, then you will understand what I am talking about. I am very happy and our members are upbeat for the future, knowing fully well that it will only get better,” he remarked.
On his part, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Mr Onne van der Weijde, revealed that the expansion strategy of the company yielded fruits last year when Nigeria was in recession as the plants across Africa contributed significantly to the company’s turnover.
“We can see how that strategy has helped us in a time that our main market of Nigeria is facing a recession, high inflation, lower consumer spending and a shortage of foreign currency to fund essential imports.
“But outside of Nigeria we’ve had operations that have now been running for more than a year and they are experiencing good growth and improving profitability, so we have managed to offset some of those topline pressures in Nigeria with revenue streams from countries in very different parts of the continent.
“Furthermore, those Pan-African operations are helping to generate foreign currency for the Group, so this shows how a long-term decision to diversify can help with a short-term pressure like an illiquid currency market in Nigeria,” he said.
During the meeting, it was disclosed that company’s strategy in every country of operations was to be the leader on costs, quality and service.
It was further revealed that Dangote Cement, during the period under review, built large, modern, highly efficient plants that combine the latest equipment from Europe, China and beyond to enable it make higher-quality cement at lower costs, thereby giving it strong competitive advantages.
Also, in the 2016 financial year, the cement sales volumes of the firm increased by 25.0 percent to nearly 23.6Mt. Of this, almost 14.8Mt was sold in the Nigerian market. Revenues increased by 25.1 per cent to N615.1B, of which 68.3 percent was generated in Nigeria (excluding eliminations) and 31.7 percent from Pan-African operations.
The firm’s earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased only slightly, to N257.2 billion, with Pan-African operations contributing N26.5 billion, excluding central costs, while earnings per share increased by 4.5 percent to N11.34.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Shares of First Holdco Plc worth N45.0 billion issued through a private placement have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
A circular issued by the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of the NGX Regulation Limited, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, disclosed that the equities were admitted for trading at the stock market on Monday.
According to the notice, the additional shares brought for listing to rank pari passu with existing shares of the organisation were 1,021,334,544 units.
These stocks were sold to one of the company’s major shareholders at a unit price of N44.06, amounting to N45.0 billion.
The total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco, as a result of this listing, are now 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of First Holdco Plc were on Monday, June 22, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s private placement of 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N44.06 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco Plc have now increased to 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 44,453,693,133 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the disclosure stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has approved fresh import licences for petrol and diesel for the third quarter of 2026 (July – September) to prevent potential supply shortages in the domestic market.
According to a report by global energy intelligence firm, Argus Media, the latest approvals were issued to major downstream operators amid declining fuel stock levels and concerns over reduced petrol production at the 700,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
The move comes as Nigeria continues to balance increasing local refining capacity with the need to guarantee adequate supplies of petroleum products across the country.
According to the Argus report, domestic firms, including AA Rano, AYM Shafa, Bono Energy, Nipco, Matrix Energy and Pinnacle Oil, received permits to import Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, during the July-September period.
The publication further reported that the same companies, with the exception of Nipco, were granted approvals to import Automotive Gas Oil, commonly known as diesel. The fresh approvals follow an earlier batch of petrol import permits issued by the regulator in May, covering about 720,000 metric tonnes.
Quoting a regulatory source, Argus noted that many of the companies granted the latest approvals were among those that had received permits in previous rounds. “These are some of the same ones that previously received the PMS permits,” the source was quoted as saying.
It was also claimed that AA Rano and Matrix Energy each received approvals to import 180,000 metric tonnes of petrol. AYM Shafa received approval for 120,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle Oil received a permit covering 150,000 metric tonnes.
For diesel imports, Argus reported that AYM Shafa obtained a permit for 60,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle secured approval for 45,000 metric tonnes. The report stated that the import approvals were issued only recently, after being delayed from an initial target date of June 15.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.01 per cent on Tuesday, June 23, dragging the market capitalisation down by N25.91 billion to N2.544 trillion from Monday’s N2.570 trillion. Also, the NASD Security Index (NSI) decreased by 43.17 points to 4,239.34 points from 4,282.51 points.
The triplet price losers were Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gave up N4.82 to trade at N75.00 per unit versus Monday’s closing price of N79.82 per unit. NASD Plc depreciated by N3.70 to close at N33.30 per share compared with the preceding day’s N37.00 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc marginally lost 1 Kobo to sell at N21.41 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N21.42 per unit.
Tuesday’s trading data showed that the volume of securities traded by investors retreated by 35.9 per cent to 211,671 units from 330,034 units, and the value of securities fell by 82.9 per cent to N5.6 million from N32.7 million, while the number of deals doubled to 38 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.1 million units transacted for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
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