A Dangote Cement Plant

Dangote Cement on Tuesday announced a revenue of N805.6 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the revenue represented an increase of 31 per cent when compared to N615.1 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2016.

The results released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that  profit before tax rose by 60.1 per cent to N298.6 billion from N180.9 billion in 2016.

Also, the profit after tax grew by 43 per cent to N204.2 billion, from N142.9 billion posted in 2016.

Cost of sales stood at N351.3 billion as against N323.8 billion in 2016, while gross profit rose to N454.3 billion from N291.3 billion in the previous year.

Operations expenses inched to N125. 3 billion from N119.3 billion, while finance cost stood at N16 billion as against N1.6 billion in 2016.

NAN reports that the board recommended a dividend of N10.50 per share in contrast with N8.50 per share paid in 2016.

Commenting on the results, analysts at FBN Quest said the dividend was in line with their forecast of N10.10 per share.

“Management has proposed a dividend of N10.35 per share, which is up by 24 per cent and broadly in line with our consensus dividend per share (DPS) forecasts of N10.10 and N10.70 respectively.

“The DPS imply a yield and pay-out ratio of 3.9 per cent and 90.4 per cent respectively,” they said.

According to them, although unit volumes for Nigeria are still under some pressure, it appears that demand is starting to pick up slowly.