By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Aliko Dangote is bracing up for more money with his sights on N13.1 billion dividend from his sugar enterprise, becoming the third Nigerian poised for a whopping dividend payout this year after Jim Ovia and Tony Elumelu.
Ovia is set to earn N9.575 billion dividend from his majority shares in Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s most profitable bank he founded in 1990, of which he is now chairman.
Elumelu, United Bank for Africa (UBA) chairman, is on the cusp of earning N1.24 billion from his majority shares in the bank.
The three men will receive the dividend for the financial year ended December 2020.
Dangote is the chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, the most diversified manufacturing conglomerate in Africa, a continent where he is also the richest man.
Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR), part of the conglomerate, has added about N90 billion to his wealth in the past one year alone, per calculation by Nairametrics.
The PUNCH adds that Dangote is expected to earn a dividend of N13.1 billion from DSR in FY 2020 based on N1.50 per share from his direct stake of 653,095,014 units, and an indirect stake of 8,122,446,281.
Financial statements for FY 2020 released by DSR said “as at December 31, 2020, the 12,146,878,241 Ordinary Shares of N0.50 each in the issued Ordinary Share Capital of DSR are beneficially held as follows:
“Dividend of N1.50k per ordinary share (2019: N1.10k) has been proposed by the Board of Directors for approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.”
DSR posted N29.78 billion profit after tax in 2020, compared to N22.36 billion in 2019, according to its audited financial statements.
The company said it raised production 13.7 per cent to 743,858 tonnes in 2020 from 654,071 tonnes in 2019. Sales volume rose 6.9 per cent from 684,487 tonnes to 731,701 tonnes.
Group revenue notched 33 per cent to N214.30 billion from N161.09 billion in 2019 and gross profit 40.4 per cent to N53.75 billion from N38.29 billion.
How sugar fetched Dangote N90 billion in 365 days
Dangote’s wealth peaked at $18.4 billion this year, and his stakes in DSR represent a total 72.3 per cent of issued ordinary shares.
In just one year, according to Nairametrics, his 8.78 billion shares in his integrated sugar business have gained N67.6 billion in market value.
This is driven by N7.65 per share increase (77.66 per cent) in the share price of Dangote Sugar – leading to a market value gain of N67.1 billion in his stakes.
His shares in his sugar enterprise surged from N9.85 on March 16, 2020 to N17.50 at the close of the stock market on March 16, 2021.
He received N1.10 per share on July 9, 2020 as final dividend paid by DSR for FY 2019 – with the total dividend in excess of N9.6 billion.
And Dangote is now on course to earn N13.1 billion dividend.
The DSR board of directors has proposed a final dividend of N1.5 per share to shareholders for FY 2020.
By this, the total sum Dangote stands to gain from his stakes in DSR is N89.9 billion (approximately N90 billion).
