Market reactions were muted Tuesday morning when the board of Dangote Cement Plc, the biggest company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by market capitalization showing that a 60.45% increase in cost of sales wiped out a 25.09% increase in revenue from sales for the year ended December 31, 2016, resulting in gross profit of N291.287bn, slightly better than the previous N289.917bn.
Administrative expenses rose to N36.669bn from N32.546bn, while selling and distribution expenses jumped by N29.167bn or 54.51%, following which profit from operating activities stood at N182.493bn, compared to the previous N207.822bn.
A little help however came with a N5.695bn tax rebate, that helped prevent a drop in profit after tax, following which the board is recommending a dividend of N8.50 final dividend, up from N8.00 in the corresponding period of 2015, out of Earnings Per Share (EPS) of N11.34, as against the previous N10.86 each.
According to the report, turnover from sales rose by N123.378bn to N615.103bn, up from N491.725bn; out of which cost of sales rose from N201.808bn to N323.816bn.
Profit before tax fell slightly to N180.929bn from N188.294bn; just as net profit stood at N186.624bn from N181.323bn.