Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, has consistently boosted shareholders return on investment in the Company.
Shareholders’ value can be defined as the value that shareholders of a company receive as dividends and stock price appreciation as a result of better decision making by the management that ultimately results in a company’s growth in sales and profit.
The company in the year ended December 31, 2022 proposed a final dividend payment of N18.22 billion, representing N1.50 for every share of 50 kobo each subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on the March 24, 2023.
The largest sugar refinery’s audited results revealed sturdy revenue growth and operating efficiency. Dangote Sugar’s revenue increased markedly by 46.1 per cent year-on-year in 2022 full year, supported by the stellar increases across its business segments; 50kg Sugar, Retail sugar, Molasses, and Freight income.
Across its geographical footprint, Dangote Sugar recorded marked growth in revenue across all its regions. A further perusal of the numbers reveals a significant growth in Q4, 2022 revenue to its highest ever print, driven by the festive induced demand typically associated with the end of the year.
The Company reported a profit before tax of N82.3 billion in the year ended December 31, 2022, indicating an increase of 142 percent to N48,28 billion over N34.billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2021. Profit after tax rose stood at N54.74 billion, representing an increase of 148 percent to N32.69 billion compared to N22.05 billion posted in the same period in 2021.
All the performance indicators were on the upswing as revenue rose by 45 percent, from N278.05 billion to N403.25 billion, while earnings per share rose from N1.82 per share to N4.51, per share, an increase of 269 kobo or 148 per cent.
Gross margin expanded to 22.8 per cent, following the faster growth in revenue relative to cost of sales. Consequently, EBITDA and EBIT margins increased to 22.9 per cent and 20.4 per cent in the period, respectively, further buoyed by a 4.2 per cent year-on-year decline in operating expenses. Net finance costs declined by 34.3 per cent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc is significantly scaling up its investment in the sugar sub-sector in line with the requirement of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP). The company was making massive investments in Adamawa State through the expansion of DSR Numan Sugar Refining capacity from 3,000 tonnes of cane per day (tcd) to 6,000 tcd, and to 9,800 tcd.
Chairman of the company, Aliko Dangote, noted that, increasing the sugar refining capacity would require a corresponding increase in sugarcane production capacity.
Dangote stated that the company had concluded plans to increase its sugar plantation from the current land area under cane production of about 8,700 hectares in 2022 to about 24,200 hectares within the next seven years.
He mentioned that the company has doubled its scholarship and empowerment schemes in its host communities and will continue to introduce more initiatives to support our host communities, saying “through these initiatives and our numerous Corporate Social Responsibility activities, DSR Numan will be able to touch the lives of the people, bringing social, economic, and infrastructural development to our host communities.”
He said: “we are thus committing over $700 million to our investment in the Backward Integration Programme (BIP) to enable us to put in place needed infrastructure for the eventual commencement of full-scale production.”
Dangote assured that the sugar company would change the trajectory by making Nigeria self-sufficient in the sector. Already, the company, he noted, has spent billions of naira in developing infrastructural facilities for host communities.
Dangote Sugar Refinery has continued to implement its sugar backward integration projects plans and the enhancement of its Outgrowers Scheme to support the economic growth of the immediate communities. The aim is to develop a robust outgrower scheme with about 5,000 outgrowers when the projects have fully taken off, in addition to the achievement of other targets of its Sugar for Nigeria Project plan.
The key focus is of the sugar refiner is achievement of the Dangote Sugar Backward Integration Projects targets and put Nigeria on the path of sugar self-sufficiency and the world sugar map.
Employee Health & Safety as well as that of its partners remains a top priority at the company’s operations at the Apapa Refinery, its Sugar Backward Integration Operations in Numan, Adamawa State and Tunga, Nasarawa State. All processes are in compliance with stipulated health and safety protocols.
Dangote Sugar Refinery is Nigeria’s largest producer of household and commercial sugar with 1.44M MT refining capacity at the same location, refines raw sugar imported from Brazil to white, Vitamin A fortified refined granulated white sugar suitable for household and industrial uses.
Its Backward Integration goal is to become a global force in sugar production, by producing 1.5M MT/PA of refined sugar from locally grown sugar cane for the domestic and export markets.
To achieve this, Dangote Sugar Refinery acquired DSR Numan Operations (Savannah Sugar Company Limited), located in Numan, Adamawa State in December 2012, and embarked on the ongoing rehabilitation of its facilities and expansion of its 32,000 hectares’ sugarcane estate.
In September 2020, the scheme of merger between DSR and Savannah Sugar Company Limited was completed which gave birth to a bigger and stronger business with considerable opportunity for growth and delivery of superior benefits to all stakeholders. The expansion of the Numan sugar estate is still ongoing as well as the development of the greenfield site acquired at Tunga, Nasarawa State for the achievement of DSR’s sugar for Nigeria development master plan.
