Economy

Dangote Cement Targets Operations in 18 African Countries

Published

5 years ago

20/06/2019

By Dipo Olowookere

Chairman of Dangote Cement, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said he hopes the company operates in at least 18 African countries in the shortest time.

The Africa’s richest man made this known at the 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held in Lagos this week.

Addressing shareholders of the cement manufacturing firm, the business mogul said the expansion will bring about more money to the company and its shareholders.

He said to achieve this goal, efforts would be made to increase the capacity of the company’s Obajana Plant to 16 million metric tons, making it one of the biggest cement plants in the world.

“All these, surely will translate to an enhanced value appreciation to the shares of Dangote cement and more money in the pockets of the shareholders,” Mr Dangote informed the shareholders, who listened to him with keen attention with smile on their faces.

According to him, Dangote Cement plans to attract about $700 million foreign exchange into the Nigerian economy in no distance time through export of the products, thereby helping the federal government and the group in its other activities across Africa.

“We have a lot of on-going projects aimed at increasing capacity and by next year, we will not only export 1 million tons as we normally do now, we will be servicing both the domestic and other African countries from Nigeria.

“We will have capacity of about 8 million tons to export and that will generate foreign exchange of about $700 million into the country,” Mr Dangote further said at the AGM.

He described 2018 fiscal year as the most successful for the company as it recorded an increase in cement sales by 7.4 percent to 23.5 million tonnes and 11.9 per cent growth in revenues to N901.2 billion.

“Sales of cement from our Nigerian plants increased by 11.4 percent to 14.2 million metric tons in 2018.

“Our pan-African operations contributed 9.4 million metric tons, level on 2017, with strong performances in Cameroon, Senegal and Zambia helping to offset weaknesses in Ethiopia and with gas turbines now operating in Tanzania, we expect these two large plants to improve their performance in 2019, further increasing profitability,” he disclosed.

Mr Dangote, who described the shareholders and staff as the bedrock of the company, further said later in the year, “We will open export facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt that will enable us to export clinker, initially to our grinding plants that we are building in West Africa.”

Group Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Mr Joseph Makoju, while also addressing the shareholders, said in 2019, focus would be on efficiency gains and achieving higher sales in domestic and export markets.

“A major priority for us is to get these export terminals on stream so we can replace non-African imports in Cameroon, rake in foreign currency for Nigeria and increase the utilization of our Nigerian plants,” he said.

At the meeting, shareholders approved the N16 per share dividend proposed by the board of directors of the firm, expressing their delight in the 52.4 percent increase in the payout for the 2018 financial year and like Oliver Twist, they asked the company to do more in the present fiscal year.

Economy

NASD OTC Securities Exchange Closes Flat

Published

3 hours ago

13/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Thursday, December 12 after it ended the trading session with no single price gainer or loser.

As a result, the market capitalisation remained unchanged at N1.055 trillion as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) followed the same route, remaining at 3,012.50 points like the previous trading session.

However, the activity chart witnessed changes as the volume of securities traded at the bourse went down by 92.5 per cent to 447,905 units from the 5.9 million units transacted a day earlier.

In the same vein, the value of securities bought and sold by investors declined by 86.6 per cent to N3.02 million from the N22.5 million recorded in the preceding trading day.

But the number of deals carried out during the session remained unchanged at 21 deals, according to data obtained by Business Post.

When trading activities ended for the day, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, Okitipupa Plc came next with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in third place with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.

Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Firms to N1,534/$1 at NAFEM, Crashes to N1,680/$1 at Black Market

Published

3 hours ago

13/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N14.79 or 0.9 per cent to trade at N1,534.50/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,549.29/$1 on Thursday, December 12.

The strengthening of the domestic currency during the trading session was influenced by the introduction of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN; publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira at the official market.

Equally, the local currency improved its value against the British Pound Sterling by N3.91 to wrap the session at N1,954.77/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,958.65/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N2.25 to sell for N1,610.41/€1 versus N1,612.66/€1.

However, in the black market, the Naira crashed further against the US Dollar on Thursday by N10 to quote at N1,680/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,670/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market majorly corrected after earlier gains as US President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his ambition to embrace crypto assets, but a bond market rout dragged risk assets lower.

Mr Trump said, “We’re going to do something great with crypto” while ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, reiterating his ambition to embrace digital assets in the world’s largest economy and create a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Alongside, the European Central Bank trimmed its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points and in its dovish policy statement hinted that more rate cuts were likely to happen.

The biggest loss was made by Cardano (ADA), which fell by 4.9 per cent to trade at $1.10, followed by Ripple (XRP), which slid by 4.1 per cent to $2.33 and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a value depreciation of 2.9 per cent to sell at $0.4064.

Further, Solana (SOL) slumped by 1.8 per cent to $225.89, Binance Coin (BNB) slipped by 1.3 per cent to $746.92, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.6 per cent to $99,998.18, Ethereum (ETH) crumbled by 0.5 per cent to $3,909.43, and Litecoin (LTC) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $121.52, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Market Falls on Expected Increase in Supply Surplus

Published

4 hours ago

13/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market slumped on Thursday, pressured by an expected increase in supply, supported by rising expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

The International Energy Agency (EIA) made a slight upward revision to its demand outlook for next year but still expected the oil market to be comfortably supplied, with Brent crude futures losing 11 cents or 0.15 per cent to trade at $73.41 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declining by 27 cents or 0.38 per cent to finish at $70.02 per barrel.

The IEA in its monthly oil market report increased its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 million barrels per day from 990,000 barrels per day last month, largely in Asian countries due to the impact of China’s recent stimulus measures.

At the same time, the IEA expects nations not in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Allies (OPEC+) group to boost supply by about 1.5 million barrels per day next year, driven by the US, Canada, Guyana, Brazil and Argentina – more than the rate of demand growth.

On Wednesday, OPEC cut its demand growth forecast for 2024 for the fifth straight month.

The IEA said that, even excluding the return to higher output quotas, its current outlook is to a 950,000 barrels per day supply overhang next year, which is almost 1 per cent of the world’s supply.

The Paris-based agency said this would rise to 1.4 million barrels per day if OPEC+ goes ahead with its plan to start unwinding cuts from the end of next March.

Next year’s surplus could make it harder for OPEC+ to bring back production. The hike was earlier due to start in October 2024, but OPEC+ has delayed it amid falling prices.

Meanwhile, inflation rose slightly in November increasing the possibility of a US Federal Reserve rates cut again as the data fed optimism about economic growth and energy demand.

Support also came as crude imports in China grew annually for the first time in seven months in November, up more than 14 per cent from a year earlier.