Nigerian billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu gains half a billion dollars off back of stake in BUA Cement

Nigerian billionaire and leading industrialist Abdul Samad Rabiu has seen the market value of his stake in BUA Cement Plc rise by $509 million in the past 38 days, as shares in the Nigerian cement maker return to all-time highs.

BUA Cement is one of Africa’s fastest-growing cement companies.

The rise in BUA Cement’s share price to a record high of N74.25 ($0.179) as of late last week can be attributed to renewed buying interest on the Nigerian Exchange, as market participants cycle funds into companies with strong fundamentals.

Nigeria’s second-largest cement producer, BUA Cement has an annual installed capacity of 8 million tonnes.

Rabiu leads and owns a 92.2-percent equity position in the company.

In 2021, BUA Cement reported a profit of N90.08 billion ($216.7 billion), up from N72.3 billion ($174 million) at the end of 2020.

Shares in the cement maker were worth N74.25 ($0.179) as of afternoon, June 5, up 9.2 percent from their closing price of N68 ($0.164) on April 28, nearly 38 days ago.

The bump in the share price took place thanks to renewed investor buying interest after shares fell between the last week of April and the first two weeks of May.

Rabiu’s stake in BUA Cement has increased in value by N211.65 billion ($509.2 million) in the past 38 days, from N2.302 billion ($5.547 billion) on April 28 to R2.514 billion ($6.057 billion) at the time of writing.

According to research conducted by Billionaire.Africa, the half-billion-dollar gain raises the total value of his shares in publicly traded companies to more than $8.6 billion.

BUA Cement reported a profit of N33.14 billion ($79.74 million) in the first quarter of 2022, up 48.2 percent from N22.37 billion ($53.8 million) in the first quarter of 2021.

The double-digit percent increase in earnings was driven by a 58.5-percent increase in revenue from N61.2 billion ($147.26 million) to N97 billion ($233.41 million).

The revenue hike follows the company’s construction of a new 3-million-metric-tonne cement factory, which increased its production capacity to 17 million metric tonnes.

As a result of the strong earnings, the group’s total assets increased from N728.51 billion ($1.75 billion) to N783.73 billion ($1.9 billion), while retained earnings increased from N181.92 billion ($437.75 million) to N215.06 million ($517.5 million).