Lafarge Africa Plc will pay shareholders N1.00 per unit of its 50 Kobo ordinary share, translating to N1.610 billion
By Eugene Onyeji
Cement-maker Lafarge Africa Plc, a member of the Holcim Group – the world’s leading in innovative and sustainable building solutions, has announced an impressive result for the year ended December 31, 2021 with a profit of N51 billion, the equivalent of 65.4 per cent surge over what was recorded in 2020.
This was disclosed in a statement showing its Financial Year result of 2021.
The result shows that the company’s profit was driven by a significant rise in sales of Cement, where prices had experienced a consistent increase on the back of an inflationary year.
Revenue for 2021 rose to N293.1 billion in the full-year period compared to N230.6 billion in the same period of 2020. Revenue growth from the largest segment, cement sales, was at 26 per cent year on year.
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Speaking on the performance, the CEO of Lafarge Africa Plc., Khaled El Dokani, said “Our 2021 performance showed significant improvement, with net sales of +27.1 per cent, recurring EBIT of +42.6 per cent and net income of +65.4 per cent, compared to FY 2020 results.
“We are equally pleased with the progress we are making on sustainability; our use of affordable clean energy and agro-ecology footprint is in accordance with our net-zero pledge journey.
“We recorded a robust free cash flow after the lease of N43.4bn and a strengthened Balance Sheet with a net cash position of N 26.8bn.”
Although the company recorded growth in topline revenues, expense line items also rose with selling and distribution expenses up 21 per cent. While administrative expenses grew by 16 per cent compared to the prior-year period.
Lafarge Africa Plc will pay shareholders N1.00 per unit of its 50 Kobo ordinary share, translating to N1.610 billion, proposed as a final dividend. This will take the total dividend payment for the period to N2.00 kobo, after an interim dividend payment of N1.00 kobo.
Lafarge Africa said the dividend will be paid to shareholders whose names are on its register of members as of the close of business on April 1.
With plants in Ewekoro and Sagamu in the South-West, Mfamosing in the South and Ashaka in the North-East of Nigeria, Lafarge Africa Plc currently has an installed cement production capacity of 10.5MTPA and has plans to grow in the near term.