Dangote Cement Plc has revealed that arrangements are in top gear for thousands of the Company’s deliveries trucks to henceforth run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in line with the federal government agenda on adoption of alternative fuel for official vehicles.
Also, amidst applause by shareholders for the impressive results in the 2023 financial year despite the harsh business operating environment, the Company announced an increase of 50 per cent on dividend payout to the shareholders, from N20.00 per share paid in the 2022 financial year to N30.00 for the last financial year 2023.
Speaking at the Company’s 15th Annual General Meeting held yesterday in Lagos, the chairman of Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote said this is to add to the federal government’s quest towards reducing dependence on fossil fuel, thereby enhancing the nation’s energy independence and contributing to a more secure energy future.
According to him, we are now going to start using CNG vehicles, especially with the new policy of the federal government, launched by the Renewed Hope Agenda by President Bola Tinubu. By the end of next year, all our trucks that are operating in the company will be running on CNG, and that is a whole lot of money that we are going to invest. But we are equal to the task, and we will continue to push and make sure that we continue to make our shareholders happy.
The chairman disclosed the Company’s ongoing efforts at ramping up production with the ongoing construction of a new plant of six million metric tonnes per annum at Itori, in Ewekoro local government area of Ogun State, noting that despite the hiccups at the Apapa Port in Lagos, the plant would be completed to time.
Dangote said the company’s impressive performance was in fulfilment of the promise he made of an enhanced Return on Investments (RoI) to the shareholders and other stakeholders in Dangote Cement, assuring them that the following year would even be better.
Also, the group managing director of Dangote Cement, Arvind Pathak said 2023 was another testament to the effectiveness of the management’s diversification strategy, despite the challenging macroeconomic conditions.
He said, “our diverse operations acted as a cushion, providing resilience to country-specific risks. Pan-African volumes were up 12.7 per cent and now account for 41.2 per cent of Group volume. Consequently, pan-African revenue increased by a record 123.2 per cent to N925.9 billion, while EBITDA surged by over four-fold to N263.7 billion.”
Shareholders were full of praise for the board and management of the Company for the impressive outing in 2023, which accounted for the dividend payout of N30 per share; an increase of 50 per cent over the 2022 dividend despite the economic headwind that characterised 2023.
The 2023 results showed that Africa’s largest cement manufacturer recorded improvement in all performance measurement indicators with group revenue rising by 36.4 per cent to N2,208.1 billion while Profit after tax (PAT) was up by 19.2 per cent to N455.6 billion. Earnings per share went up by 18.8 per cent at N26.47. Dangote Cement is garnering more market share across the continent with pan-Africa volumes going up by 12.7 per cent to 11.3Mt.
