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Nigeria’s leading producer of household and commercial sugar has posted N12.60 billion ($30.6 million) as its mid-year profit for the year 2021.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc’s profit follows a double-digit increase in revenue and represents a nine-percent growth compared to last year’s profit after tax of N11.58 billion ($28.14 billion).
The sugar refiner, which is majority owned by Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote, has a 1.44-million-metric-tonne refining capacity, making it the country’s largest household and commercial sugar producer.
Group sales in the first half of 2021 rose to 388,589 tonnes, while its production volume increased by 7.6 percent to 403,846 tonnes, driven by the optimization of operations during the period.
Despite a single-digit increase in production during the period, Dangote Sugar was able to grow its gross profit by double digits from N20.82 billion ($50.6 million) last year to N28.59 billion ($69.47 million).
However, the growth in gross profit represents a 37.3-percent increase compared to last year. This follows a 27.8-percent rise in revenue from N103.23 billion ($250.86 million) last year to N131.95 billion ($320.66 million) at the end of the first half of 2021.
Operational rigidities spurred by recurrent challenges with the Apapa traffic gridlock (in Lagos State) and the importation of raw sugar from Brazil pressured the group’s profit after tax downward to a single-digit growth of nine percent.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Group Managing Director Ravindra Singhvi said the impressive financial performance reflected the group’s strong footing in the first half of the year, as the financial results showed, with a stronger Q1 topline growth and a robust Q2 topline growth.
While commenting on product innovations within the group’s offerings, Singhvi noted new packaging designs for its 50-kilogram fortified and non-fortified sugar bags with the theme, “Dangote Sugar has a new look…. Same great quality,” which launched during the period.
As of press time, 4:40 PM (UTC), shares in the sugar company were trading at N17.50 ($0.04252), 0.57-percent lower than their opening price of N17.60 ($0.04277) for the year.
Dangote Sugar Refinery is the 28th most-traded stock on the Nigerian Exchange over the past three months. The group’s market capitalization on the local bourse is valued at N212.57 billion ($516.60 million).
