BY EMEKA EJERE
The biggest company listed on the floor of The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Dangote Cement Plc said it would pay shareholders N16 for every share held in the company for the 2020 financial year.
According to a note published by the NSE on Friday and seen by Business Hallmark, this translates to a total dividend payout of N272.648 billion.
The cement giant has been paying shareholders the same dividend for the past three years.
“The audited financial statements will be filed with the NSE on or before March 31 2021,” the document said.
The biggest cement maker in Nigeria recorded a tumble in profit by almost 50 per cent from N390.215 billion to N200.521 billion in 2019 as a result of a steep rise in operating cost.
What it means is that it spent the equivalent of its entire profit for that year and an additional N72 billion to pay dividend for 2019.
The company initiated a plan last year to repurchase 10 per cent of its outstanding shares to shore up its share price currently perceived to be undervalued.
Only 13.8 per cent of Dangote Cement’s entire shares is owned by the public.
The company’s total sales and profit for the nine months to September 2020 came to N761.444 billion and N208.685 billion respectively.
That compares with the N679.791 billion revenue and N154.350 billion profit declared for the corresponding period of 2019 raising hopes of improved earnings when the company issues its audited full-year earnings report.
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