Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, gains $500 million in 14 days, as cement company shares skyrocket

Aliko Dangote, an African billionaire businessman, has seen his net worth increase by more than $500 million in the past 14 days as the market value of his majority stake in his flagship company, Dangote Cement Plc, continues to rise.

The Nigerian billionaire and chairman of Dangote Group, Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate, derives the majority of his fortune from an 86-percent stake in his flagship company, Dangote Cement, and another $5.15 billion fortune from his recently commissioned fertilizer plant.

The multimillion-dollar increase in his net worth in the last 14 days pushed his year-to-date wealth gains to $1.33 billion, extending his position as Africa’s richest man with a net worth of $20.4 billion.

This comes on the heels of sustained buying interest in Dangote Cement stocks as investors anticipate better-than-expected first-quarter results as the leading cement manufacturing company continues to leverage sustained growth in real estate demand and a significant increase in government infrastructure spending.

Experts believe the cement behemoth will build on its stellar performance in 2021, when revenue increased by 33.8 percent from N1.03 trillion ($2.47 billion) in 2020 to N1.38 trillion ($3.31 billion) due to an increase in sales volumes from 25.72 million tonnes to 29.27 million tonnes and pricing benefits from an increase in cement bag prices.

This double-digit percent increase in revenue resulted in an impressive increase in earnings last year, with profit increasing by 33 percent from N276.06 billion ($663.5 million) to N364.4 billion ($875.9 million).

Dangote Cement shares have increased by more than four percent since April 8, from N273.5 ($0.658) per share to N285.4 ($0.6867) per share at the time of writing. This increased his net worth from $19.9 billion on April 8 to $20.4 billion on April 21.