Dangote Cement mulls N300b bond issuance

TRACKING____THE board of Dangote Cement Plc has approved a medium-term debt capital raiser for the company under its N300 billion bond issuance programme.

In a regulatory filing yesterday, the board of the cement group stated that it plans to issue its “maiden series of bonds imminently”, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals and favourable market conditions.

The company stated that it has already started the process of obtaining relevant regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the company, the net proceeds of the debt capital raising will be used to refinance existing short-term debts, which were used for cement expansion while remaining funds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

“Book building for the series 1 bonds will commence following approval of the transaction by the SEC,” Dangote Cement stated.

Nigeria’s most capitalised quoted company, Dangote Cement had indicated it would be distributing N272.6 billion to shareholders as cash dividend for the 2019 business year.

The board of the cement company indicated that shareholders will receive a dividend per share of N16. The dividend will become payable on June 16, 2020 to all shareholders on the register of the company as at the close of business on May 25, 2020.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2019 showed that turnover dropped from N901.21 billion in 2018 to N891.67 billion in 2019. Gross profit also declined marginally from N517.90 billion to N511.68 billion. Profit before tax stood at N250.48 billion in 2019 as against N300.81 billion in 2018 while profit after tax dropped from N390.33 billion to N200.52 billion.

The report, meanwhile, indicated that the group’s investments across Africa have started yielding desired results as Pan-African sales volume grew in the year 2019, hitting 9.6 Mt from 9.4 Mt. Dangote Cement Plant, Mtwara, Tanzania, recorded an increase of 94 percent increase in volume within the review period.

Dangote Cement Plant, Pout, Senegal put up a remarkable performance with sales up more than 100 percent of rated capacity.