Dangote Cement Plc has announced revenue of N615.1 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2016.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was against N491.7 billion recorded in 2015, indicating an increase of 25.1 per cent.
The report is contained in the company’s audited result released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday in Lagos.
The company’s profit before tax stood at N180. 93 billion as against N188.29 billion recorded in the preceding year.
A further breakdown of the company’s result indicated that the gross profit rose to N291.29 billion from N289.92 billion.
Non-current assets increased from N944.96 billion in the comparative period to N1.22 trillion, while total current assets surged to N303.16 billion from N165.98 in 2015 financial year bringing total assets to N1.53 trillion from N1.11 trillion achieved in the previous year.
The company’s board of directors recommended a dividend of N8.50 per share to all its shareholders against N8 paid in the comparative period of 2015, representing an increase of 6.25 per cent.
Commenting on the result, Mr Onne van der Weijde, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, said that Dangote Cement’s export sales transformed Nigeria into net exporter.
Weijde said that the company exported 0.4 million metric tonnes into neighbouring countries.
“It was a challenging year for many African economies but we achieved sales and revenue growth of 25 per cent and consolidated our position as Africa’s leading producer of cement.
“Sales from Nigerian operations increased by 13.8 per cent to nearly 15.1Mt, at a growth rate far higher than the country’s GDP, which fell in 2016.
“We exported nearly 0.4Mt into neighbouring countries and in doing so, we achieved a great milestone by transforming Nigeria into a net exporter of cement.
“This is a remarkable achievement, given that only five years ago, in 2011, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest importers, buying 5.1Mt of foreign cement at huge expense to our balance of payments.’’
Weijde stated that the company would increase its exports substantially in 2017.
He said that its Pan-African operations continued to perform well and sold nearly 8.6Mt of cement outside of Nigeria, which accounted for 54 per cent more than 2015.
According to him, the company will soon begin operations in Congo and Sierra Leone, widening its footprint to 10 countries.
“The New Year has started well and we expect much higher profitability in Nigeria this year, even though, we may not see the volume growth we achieved in 2016.
“I am confident that we will deliver an even stronger performance this year as we increase market share and extend our reach across Africa,” he said.(NAN)