Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s largest company, posted record profit in the first half of the year as demand for the building material picked up with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
The Cement company grew profit by 52 percent to N191.6 billion in the first half of 2021 compared to N126.1 billion in the same time last year. That’s the highest in at least eight years, according to data collated by BusinessDay.
Revenue rose 44.8 percent also to a record N690.5 billion from N476.8 billion last year, the biggest jump since at least 2012.
“The Covid-19 induced lockdown halted building projects and affected the demand for cement in the first half of 2020 but as restrictions were lifted all the cement demand build-up that were not able to materialize during the lockdown poured in,” Mustapha Wahab, an infrastructure analyst at Chapel Hill Denham said.
Read also: ‘CBN’s decision on Dangote, BUA, Flour Mills in line with sugar master plan’
Cement production and bagging capacity rose 6.5 percent to 48.5 metric tons in the first half of the year compared to 45.4 metric tons in the same period last year.
Production cost of sales rose 36.4 percent to N202.4 billion compared to N276.1 billion in the periods under review
As a result of the impressive sales, gross profit rose 51 percent to N414.1 billion from N274.4 billion in the first half of 2020.
The Cement maker was also able to reduce its borrowing cost by 8.5 percent to N9.4 billion in the first half of 2021 compared to N10.2 billion in the same time last year.
Dangote Cement’s stock closed 0.04 percent higher at N248.10, Friday.
Earnings per share (EPS) grew 50.4 percent to N11.21 per share from N7.45 per share in June 2020.
