Company reports and Dividend payment update: Stanbic IBTC, Dangote Cement and Lafarge Plc, carry out corporate actions

The Nigerian Stock Exchange released its weekly report with three companies carrying out corporate actions. A corporate action is an action taken by a company, usually enacted by the board of directors, which affects the shareholders materially.

Dangote Cement PLC, LaFarge Africa PLC, and Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC carried out corporate actions last week with details as follows:

 DANGOTE CEMENT PLC

Dangote Cement PLC has proposed a dividend of N16, with the qualification date being the 27th of April 2021. AGM date is the 26th of May and payments will go out a day later, being the 27th of May 2021. The closure of the registration date is the 28th of April 2021.

Dangote Cement, which is simultaneously the biggest cement manufacturing company in the country, and the biggest company in the country, reported a 16 percent rise in revenue, resulting in its biggest annual sales ever. The total sales figure surpassed the N1 trillion benchmark, over N142 billion higher than the last year.

However, due to the company buying back about 40.2 million units of its shares in December, the company's dividends dropped a little from N897.937 billion to N890.970 billion. In the last five years, Dangote has paid N1.1 trillion in dividends. Its share price stands at N224 as of the close of Monday's trading day.

LAFARGE AFRICA PLC

Lafarge Africa PLC, another cement manufacturing company based in Lagos and controlled by LafargeHolcim, proposed a dividend of N1 to investors. It stated its qualification date as the 3rd of May 2021, with both AGM and payment dates as 25th May. Its date for closure of registration is the 4th of April, a day after its opening date. 

The company in its audited financial statement disclosed that its profits grew to N30.8 billion in 2020, a 98.8 percent year-on-year growth. The company's earnings increased to 191 kobo per share from 96 kobo. Its shares currently stand at N22.05 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC

Financial services company, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, proposed N3.6 dividends for its shareholders. Its qualification date is on the 27th of April 2021 and closes the next day, the 28th of April. The AGM and payment dates are the 27th and 28th of May respectively.

The bank's profits grew 10.9 percent in 2020, with gross earning going up as well to N234.5 billion from N233.8 billion. Dividends also grew from N302 billion to N378.6 billion.

The bank's shares have been one of the best-performing on the NSE, with its shares currently at N51.5 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. 

A total of 1.530 billion shares worth N21.311 were traded this week by investors.

Banks and other financial services organizations saw the highest volume of activity with 1.096 billion shares worth N12.294 billion. Next was the consumer goods industry with 177.673 million shares worth N3.577 billion traded. 

The top three equities traded were Union Bank Nig.Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, accounting for 687.616 million shares worth N4.96 billion.