A planned listing on the London Stock Exchange by Dangote Cement shelved some years ago, could be back on the drawing board. Parties familiar with the offer, who spoke to Bloomberg, however, declined to give further details. A representative for the company, however, denied knowledge of such plans. The company had in 2010, prepared towards listing on the London Stock Exchange, but later shelved the plans.
Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), the parent company through which Aliko Dangote maintains his stake in Dangote Cement had sold shares to several institutional investors last year, in a bid to meet the minimum float requirement of 20% on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He, however, continues to maintain a majority stake.
Benefits from listing
A listing would enable the company raise a large amount of capital compared to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which is fairly shallow.
In addition to building a mega petrochemical refinery in Lagos, the Dangote group has embarked on several expansion plans. An $800 million, dairy farm is billed to come on stream in 2019. Sugar production will also be increased from 150,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes in the near future.
The billionaire businessman, had in December last year, signed an agreement with the Liberian government, to invest in the country’s petroleum industry. The company’s plants in Nigeria will also be expanded. Dangote Cement currently has a production capacity of about 45 million tonnes of cement per annum and is the biggest cement producer in Nigeria in terms of volume.
Dangote Cement shares closed at ₦259.90 on Friday’s trading session at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), up 13% year to date.
Results for the 9 months ended September 2017 show revenue increased from ₦442 billion in 2016 to ₦603 billion in 2017. Profit before tax also increased from ₦148 billion in 2016 to ₦220 billion in 2017.
