Dangote Cement Plc, the biggest company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by value, on Friday presented its result for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, just in time before the end of the regulatory deadline, with less than proportionate rise in various expense lines, negatively impacting sales revenue growth, particularly the selling and distribution expense, finance cost, the pan-African operations as well as the administrative cost.
Sales revenue rose by N67.645bn or 48.13% from N140.521bn in the corresponding period of last year to N208.166bn; production cost of sales rose to N87.802bn from N62.204bn, an increase by about N25.598bn or 41.15%, with fuel and power consumed accounting for N28.775bn from N21.755bn; while materials consumed followed with N27.425bn from N16.985bn in the preceding first quarter. Salaries and related staff costs jumped to N6.008bn from N3.637bn; plant maintenance cost rose from N4.572bn to N6.556bn; other production expense increased to N6.469bn from N3.748bn. This left gross profit of N120.364bn, up from N78.317bn. Cement sales remained the most dominant revenue source, with N208.109bn, up from previous N140.493bn; while Nigeria accounted for N152.355bn of revenue for the period; with the pan African operations contributing N58.715bn
Administrative expenses jumped by N3.608bn or 56.27% to N10.019bn, up from N6.411bn; Selling and distribution expenses jumped N11.752bn or 73.52% rose to N27.76bn from N15.998bn, buoyed by the N11.05bn or 144.06% increase in haulage expenses to N18.72bn from N7.67bn. Other income improved from N663m, as against the previous N222m; following which profit from operating activities rose from N56.13bn to N83.248bn
Finance income growth was flat at N5.641bn, compared to the previous N5.034bn; while finance cost soared by N4.947bn or 74.67% from N6.625bn in the first quarter of 2016 to N11.572bn, following the N11.484bn growth in interest expenses. Profit before tax stood at N77.317bn from the previous N54.539bn.
After tax profit stood at N70.572bn, a 33.71% growth over prior first quarter’s N52.779bn; following a 283.23% rise in income tax expenses from N1.76bn to N6.745bn.
The group’s Nigerian operations also contributed N88.302bn of profit; which was impacted by the N11.38bn loss from the pan-African business.
Earnings per share for the period rose to 425 kobo, as against the preceding first quarter’s 312 kobo.