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South African billionaire and Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe is on course to pocket a dividend of R1.8 billion ($126.2 million) from African Rainbow Minerals (ARM).
The dividend will be paid from ARM’s earnings at the end of its 2021 financial year, as the diversified mining and minerals company continues to benefit from the diversity of its operations and higher commodity prices.
ARM is a leading South African diversified mining and minerals company, with interests in a wide range of mines, including iron, coal, copper, gold, platinum and other precious metals.
Motsepe founded it in 1997 as South Africa’s first Black-owned mining company. Since then, ARM has grown into a key player in the mining industry globally.
Motsepe holds a 40-percent stake in the company, deriving a wealth of $1.5 billion (R21.4 billion) from the miner.
In its latest earnings report, ARM said that its headline earnings grew by 136 percent, from R5.5 billion ($386.4 million) in the previous year to R13 billion ($913.7 million) at the end of its 2021 financial year.
The robust financial performance was due to its diversified portfolio of commodities and pricing benefits from higher prices for precious metals and iron, which offset the negative impact of a stronger rand against the U.S. dollar.
These were further augmented by higher sales volumes delivered for iron ore, manganese and precious metals, as the group experienced single-digit growth in the production of precious metals.
The triple-digit growth in ARM’s headline earnings led the board to propose a final dividend of R20.0 ($1.4) per share, plus an interim dividend of R10 ($0.70) per share paid to shareholders. This makes the total dividend for 2021 R30.00 ($2.10) per share.
The tycoon’s 40-percent stake in ARM stock qualifies him to pocket a final dividend of R1.8 billion ($126.2 million) from ARM’s profit in 2021.
The final dividend payment will take his total dividend earnings for the year to R2.7 billion ($189.4 million). Motsepe received an interim dividend of R898.7 million ($63.1 million) this year.
