DANGOTE CEMENT TO ATTRACT $700 MILLION AS SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE N272.6B DIVIDEND

Dangote Cement Plc has announced
plans to attract $700 million in foreign exchange from the exportation of the
product to boost Nigeria’s economy. The company also said the cement terminals
located in Onne, River State, and Lagos State will be completed before year
end.

Chairman, Aliko Dangote, while
addressing shareholders at the 10th yearly general meeting in Lagos, said:
“We have a lot of on-going projects aimed at increasing capacity, and by
next year, we will not only export one million tonnes as we normally do now, we
will be servicing both the domestic and other African countries from Nigeria.

“We will have a capacity of
about eight million tonnes to export and that will generate a foreign exchange
of about $700 million into the country, to assist the federal government and
the group in its other activities across Africa.”

Besides, shareholders at the
meeting approved a total of N272.6 billion dividends, translating to N16 per
share due to every investor of the company for the 2018 financial year. Furthermore,
Dangote expressed optimism on the prospect of the company, as it will be
effectively operating in a minimum of 18 African countries, while by increasing
the capacity of its Obajana Plant to 16 million metric tonnes; it becomes 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”, he told shareholders.

Dangote described 2018 as the
most successful for the company, as it recorded an increase in cement sales by 7.4%
to 23.5 million tonnes, and 11.9% growth in revenues to N901.2 billion.

“Sales of cement from our
Nigerian plants increased by 11.4% to 14.2 million metric tonnes in 2018. Our
Pan-African operations contributed 9.4 million metric tonnes, level on 2017,
with strong performances in Cameroon, Senegal, and Zambia helping to offset
weaknesses in Ethiopia, and gas turbines now operating in Tanzania, we expect
these two large plants to improve their performance in 2019, further increasing
profitability.”

Speaking further on the firm’s expansion dream, Dangote said: “Later in 2019, we will open export facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt that will enable us to export clinker, initially to our grinding plants we are building in West Africa.”https://allafrica.com/stories/201906180043.html