Dangote Cement’s nine-month profit jumps 31% as revenue hits N3.8 trillion

Dangote Cement reported a 31.2 per cent surge in net profit for the nine months to September, compared to the same period last year, driven by a considerable increase in sales, according to the latest corporate results of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement maker.

The corporation posted a 19.6 per cent rise in turnover, which climbed to N3.8 trillion, boosted by improved revenue from the sales of cement and clinker.

Nigeria, its primary market, accounted for 70.8 per cent of total sales, while its pan-African operations contributed the rest.

Dangote Cement, with a production capacity of 55 million tonnes per annum, has footprints in 11 African countries, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire among others.

Cost of sales as a proportion of revenue declined to 36.8 per cent from 40.8 per cent, softening the impact of cost pressures on gross profit.

Administrative expenses advanced by 11.7 per cent to N226.1 billion, while selling and distribution expenses jumped by 23.6 per cent to N618.9 billion, the latter driven by higher haulage costs.

Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA), a key indicator which measures the core operating profit of a business, stood at N1.8 trillion, up from N1.4 trillion a year ago.

That puts EBITDA’s margin at 46.8 per cent, compared to 45.3 per cent in the same period of last year.

Strengthening profit, the company cut back finance costs to N120.8 billion from N286 billion, following a sharp reduction in interest expenses.

Profit before tax was up by 41.5 per cent at N1.5 trillion, while profit after tax advanced to N974.8 billion from N743.3 billion.

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Total assets stood at N6.2 trillion, relative to N6 trillion as of the end of last year.

Dangote Cement is on track to complete a cross-border listing on the London Stock Exchange in addition to a primary listing in Lagos, where its market capitalisation stood at N22.6 trillion at the open of trading on Wednesday.

The company added Goldman Sachs and UBS Group AG as bookrunners for the listing, which is planned for November, according to a Bloomberg report earlier this month.

If plans work out, it will be quoted under the international commercial companies secondary listing framework, the company said in May.

Last month, FTSE Russell named Dangote Cement among the ten Nigerian companies it added to its Frontier Index Series.