Aliko Dangote to earn $570 million this week from stake in Dangote Cement

Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote will be paid a whopping $570 million (N234 billion) on May 28 as the final dividend for the 2020 year from his stake in his flagship company, Dangote Cement Plc.

Dangote Cement is Africa’s largest cement manufacturer, with a total installed cement production and bagging capacity of 48.55 million tonnes per annum.

The chairman and single majority shareholder, Dangote founded the cement company in 1981.

The company declared a record-high revenue of $2.5 billion (N1.03 trillion) in 2020, making it the second Nigeria-listed entity after MTN to surpass the N1-trillion benchmark. This follows a strong demand for cement on the back of a noteworthy appetite for real estate investment and recovering infrastructure.

The company’s resilient financial performance in 2020 made the Dangote Cement board of directors declare a dividend of N16 per share ($0.039 per share).

Dangote, whose estimated net worth is $11.1 billion, holds a direct stake of 27,642,637 shares and an indirect stake of 14,621,387,610 ordinary shares in Dangote Cement via Dangote Industries Limited, Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate.

His stake in the cement company, valued at about $7.6 billion (N3.1 trillion), accounts for the majority of his wealth.

With Dangote Cement’s dividend payment date pegged for May 27 a day after its annual general meeting on May 26, the billionaire is set to receive a staggering cash balance of about $570 million in his bank account as dividends from his stake in the company.

In recent times, his company has ramped up cement production across key plants to curtail the supply gap that exists in the Nigerian cement industry.