Dangote Cement’s quarterly profit grows to N104.76bn
Dangote Cement Plc posted a profit after tax of N104.76 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to N77.49 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company, in its interim financial statements obtained by Markets Reporters from the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said its pre-tax profit rose to N132.17 billion from N95.78 billion.
Its cement sales volume increased to 4.02 million tonnes in the quarter from 3.99 million tonnes in the same period a year ago. Revenue from cement sales rose to N179.34 billion from N169.89 billion.
Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer, saw its total assets grow to N1.93 trillion as of March 31, 2020 from N1.8 trillion as of December 31, 2019 while total liabilities rose to N546.27 billion from N541.74 billion.
The company noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected sales in Nigeria as well as its operations in some other countries.
It noted that in March, the Nigerian government imposed restrictions on economic activities and movement of people in some of the states in the country in order to control the spread of the virus.
“Our plants continued to operate during this period but we witnessed a reduction in sales. Compared to March 2019, there was no significant change in the sales volumes for March 2020 because the temporary restrictions became effective during the last week in March 2020,” it said.
The company noted that the temporary restrictions deployed in Nigeria continued subsequent to March 31, with some amendments.
It said, “Nigeria sales volumes and values in April 2020 were trending lower than the volumes and values realised during the same period last year.
“While it is normal trend to witness a reduction in sales during the rainy season, which usually starts in April, a further reduction could be experienced during the 2020 rainy season due to the additional impact from the COVID-19 related temporary restrictions.”
Dangote Cement said in its pan-Africa operations, the response by the authorities of the countries varied in nature from specific temporary restrictions in some countries to a complete temporary lockdown for businesses not considered as part of essential services.
It said, “This notably resulted in total shutdown of our plants in South Africa, Congo and Ghana for a period of time. Some of these restrictions are ongoing, and authorities appear to be continuously assessing the spread of the virus and amending these temporary restrictions accordingly.
“We have considered the impact of the restrictions across the jurisdictions we operate in and concluded that the business will remain a going concern in the foreseeable future and the interim financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.”
The company said its directors had also concluded that no material adjustments were required on the assets and liabilities as a result of the COVID-19 impact.
