Investors laud Dangote Sugar Refinery for consistent dividend payment

Motolani Oseni

Shareholders of Dangote Sugar Refining Plc, on Tuesday lauded the management of the company for taking care of them through consistent dividends payment.

The board and management of the sugar refinery was commended for its resilience despite the harsh operating environment during the 2018 financial year.

Speaking at the Dangote Sugar Refinery Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, National Coordinator, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Mrs Bisi Bakare said that though many quoted companies are struggling with the payment of dividends, Dangote Sugar Refinery is consistent in taking care of shareholders.

According to her, investors are always happy when they receive returns on their investments both as dividend and share price growth on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Founder, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu in his remarks decried the negative impact of Apapa Wharf traffic situation which has impacted negatively on the performance of companies as they struggle to move finished goods and raw materials to distributors and warehouses.

He said that the board and management deserves a hefty pat on the back has given the situation under which the achieved the result.

In his response, the Chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Aliko Dangote stated the resolve of the company to soar to greater heights and create more values for stakeholders despite the plethora of challenges in the economy.

He said the company posted a profit before tax of N34.6billion with a turnover of N150.4 billion for the 2018 financial year even as the company lamented the continuous smuggling of sugar into the country.

Alhaji Dangote said that the company was able to post an appreciable resilient performance despite the gloomy economic outlook at the dawn of the previous year 2017.

He told the shareholders that Dangote Sugar was able to weather through the economic downturn and advanced significantly in 2018 because it pursed aggressively its backward integration plan aggressively by focusing on issues that have been bogging down the plan and subsequently adjusting the timelines.

“2018 was quite a challenging year for the Company with several negative activities, which include an influx of smuggled sugar into the key markets nationwide coupled with the Apapa traffick gridlock which continue to effect evacuation of products from the refinery”, Dangote stated.

The Company Chairman explained that prior to the traffic logjam at Apapa, the company could move up to between 60 and 70 trucks out of the refinery but that since the problem started, it could hardly move up to 20 trucks out of the Sugar refinery daily.

Dangote stated that the company had to revise its backward integration timeline to mitigate against the unforeseen challenges noting that the first phase of the plan includes the rehabilitation and expansion of the Savanna Sugar, the Lau/Tau project in Taraba State and the Tunga sugar project in Nasarawa State.

According to him, Savanna Sugar remains the only company producing sugar from sugarcane grown in the country and had just ended its 2018/2019 crop season.

“Rehabilitation of the land and its infrastructure for improved yield and output is still on-going,” he said.

Dangote disclosed that the first phase expansion of the Savanna Sugar capacity from the current 3,000TCD to 3,500TCD has been completed while the subsequent increase of production capacity to 6000TCD has commenced and is expected to be completed by 2020 “as well as the installation of the new 12,000TCD factory that will be fed with the increased cane supply”.

“At Tunga, activities are well underway at 68,000 hectares sugar projects site. Activities ongoing at the project site include the establishment of the cane seed nursery, housing and other basic infrastructure with the project currently employing 325 staff with potential for increase towards the fourth quarter of the year”, Dangote stated.

In the same vein, DSR Chairman said the company was into so many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in the host communities of Tunga that will cater for 25,000 beneficiaries.

According to him, School projects, water projects were undertaken in the Savanna sugar host communities while 13,000women were supported with N130 million through Aliko Dangote Foundation.