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Business News of Wednesday, 31 March 2021

Source: nairametrics.com

Stocks you can buy now and still qualify to receive dividends

The photo used to illustrate the story via Nairametrics The photo used to illustrate the story via Nairametrics

The year 2021 has been quite an impressive year for investors who bought stakes in dividend-paying companies, as some of their investments in these companies in 2020 have earned them juicy dividends.

While key companies like Nigerian Breweries and Nestle had to reduce dividend payout to investors for the year 2020, some companies like Vitafoam and Dangote Sugar increased dividend payout to investors for the same year.

In line with disclosures on the NSE, opportunities abound for investors who are looking to earn some quick returns from dividends. Investors who decide to buy the shares of the following companies now will still qualify to receive dividends this year, from the companies.

Dangote Cement Plc (DANGCEM)The Board of Dangote Cement weeks ago proposed a dividend of N16.00 per share to shareholders of the company for the year 2020. With the N215 price of Dangote Cement shares at yesterday’s close, the dividend yield of the company stands at 7.44%

The company’s Board has also set-out clear instructions in a subsequent announcement for investors to qualify to receive the dividend payment.

According to the statement, only shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members on April 27 2021, will be paid a final dividend of N16.00 per share. This suggests that to qualify for this dividend, new shareholders must purchase shares of the company not later than three working days before the 27th of April 2021.

By May 27, 2021, the dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names were entered into the Register of Members before April 27, 2021.

Nestle Nigeria Plc (NESTLE)The board of Nestle Nigeria Plc proposed a dividend of N35.50 per share to shareholders of the company for the year 2020. With the shares of the FMCG giant valued at N1,375 per share, the dividend yield of Nestle’s proposed dividend is 2.58%.

In line with the guidelines issued by the company to qualify for this dividend, only shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members on May 21 2021, will be paid a final dividend of N35.50 per share.

Hence, to qualify for this dividend, new shareholders must purchase shares of this company not later than three working days before the 21st of May 2021.

By June 23, 2021, the dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names were entered into the Register of Members before the deadline date.

BUA Cement Plc (BUACEMENT)Nigeria’s second-largest cement manufacturer declared a dividend of about N70 billion for the financial year 2020, from the profit of about N72 billion it was able to generate from its operations in 2020.

The company in a disclosure that followed, informed the investing public that the dividend of N2.067 kobo proposed by the company’s board will be paid on July 23, 2021, to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on July 9, 2021.

With the N73.5 price of BUA Cement shares as of yesterday’s close, the dividend yield of the company is pegged at 2.81%.

Hence, to qualify for this dividend, the shares of the company must be purchased not later than three working days before the dividend qualification date.

NASCON Allied Industries Plc (NASCON)The Board of the leading player in salt refining in Nigeria, NASCON Allied industries proposed a dividend of 40 kobo. The dividend yield of the company shares, at today’s open price of N15.2 per share, is 2.63%.

The company in its dividend announcement disclosed that only shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members on April 22nd 2021, will be paid a final dividend of 40 kobo per share.

In order to qualify for this dividend, one would need to purchase the shares of NASCON not later than three working days before April 22nd 2021.

By May 5, 2021, the dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names were entered into the Register of Members before the deadline date.

Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO)The Board of Lafarge Africa Plc announced the payment of N16.11 billion to its shareholders as the final dividend for the period ended 31st December 2020.

This translates to a dividend of N1.0 per share for all the outstanding 16,107,795,721 ordinary shares of the company. With Lafarge WAPCO shares valued at N22.25 per share, the company’s dividend yield is pegged at 4.44%.

In line with the company’s announcement, only shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members at the close of business on Friday, 30th April 2021 will be considered for the dividend.

To qualify for the company’s dividend, the shares of the company must be purchased not later than three working days before the dividend qualification date.

What you should know

To qualify for the dividends of these companies, their shares must be bought at least 3 working days before the dividend qualification date.

In the same manner, only shareholders who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts will be paid dividends.

On the dividend qualification date, the shares of these companies will be marked down on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, to reflect the total amount of dividend per share that shareholders will receive.