Dangote set to earn N13bn in dividend from sugar business

Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, is expected to earn a dividend of N13.1bn for the financial year 2020 from his stake in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.

Africa’s richest man is set to earn N1.50 per share on his direct and indirect investments in Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC, where he holds a direct stake of 653,095,014 units, and an indirect stake of 8,122,446,281 respectively.

The Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, obtained by our correspondent on Thursday [today], states that “As at December 31, 2020, the 12,146,878,241 Ordinary Shares of N0.50 each in the issued Ordinary Share Capital of DSR are beneficially held as follows:

“Dividend of N1.50k per ordinary share (2019: N1.10k) has been proposed by the Board of Directors for approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.”

The Punch had earlier reported that Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc posted a profit after tax of N29.78bn in 2020, compared to N22.36bn in 2019, according to its audited financial statements.

The company, in a statement, said despite the disruptions to the economy, owning majorly to coronavirus pandemic, it recorded an increase of 13.7 per cent in production volume to 743,858 tonnes in the financial year ended December 31, 2020, from 654,071 tonnes in 2019.

It also posted an increase in sales volume, which rose by 6.9 per cent from 684,487 tonnes to 731,701 tonnes.

The sugar group said the improvements were attributable to operations optimisation strategy despite the momentary disruption caused by civil unrest in the last quarter of the year.

It said growth continued to benefit from the sustained efforts to drive customer base expansion and several trade initiatives and investments.

The group revenue increased by 33 per cent to N214.30bn from N161.09bn in 2019, while the gross profit increased by 40.4 per cent to N53.75bn from N38.29bn.

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr Ravindra Singhvi, said despite the socioeconomic uncertainties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic during the year under review, the group continued on the growth path with commitments to improve performance and generate value for all stakeholders.

He said, “Our focus on the implementation of our key strategies in the face of the several challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the peculiarities of the Apapa traffic situation, amongst others, we achieved a topline growth in revenue of N214.30bn, a 33.0 per cent increase over 2019; a 53 per cent y-o-y increase in PBT, and 33.2 per cent increase in PAT.

“The year 2020 was indeed very eventful for our company, ranging from the weak macroeconomic fundamentals caused by the underlying impact of COVID-19 pandemic which saw to the steady rise in FX rate, high inflation and the significant rise in our cost of production, to the worsening traffic gridlock on the Apapa Wharf road which led to delays and at times disruption of the distribution and deliveries to customers.”

Billionaire Dangote is the single majority shareholder of his integrated sugar business.