Dangote sugar refinery declares N16.5bn PBT

Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Anthony Okpanachi (centre),  with a cross section of Ecobank management staff, Principals and students of Girl's Secondary School, Akwakuma, Owerri, during Financial Literacy Day in the school .

Dangote sugar refinery declares N16.5bn PBT

…pays shareholder N6bn dividend

Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc has recorded a profit before tax of N16.55 billion for the year ended December 31, 2015, showing an increase of eight per cent compared with N15.27 billion recorded in 2014. 

Profit after tax fell slightly by 0.9 percent to N11.64 billion from N11.54 billion in 2014.

The profit was made from revenue of N101 billion in 2015, up seven per cent from N94.8 billion recorded in 2014. With sustain growth in profitability, the board of Dangote Sugar Refinery recommended N6 billion dividend for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Speaking on the performance, the Acting Group Managing Director of DSR, Abdullahi Sule, said, “2015 ended with remarkable volume pickup in the fourth quarter as our strategy to reduce margins in September by 28 per cent and the addition of 100 trucks to our fleet improved delivery to customers. As a result we gained market share from competition and smugglers.

“I am glad that we were able to grow our revenue by 11per cent and improve sales volumes compared to 2014 despite the current macro-economic challenges which we face in Nigeria, with an especially difficult first and second quarter.

“To improve efficiency, we have redeveloped our sequencing strategy to self-sufficiency through the production of refined sugar from cane and remain zealous in our efforts to execute the “Sugar for Nigeria” project, which will replace our current production in the next four to five years as we execute the first phase of our backward integration plans, which now includes the Savannah rehabilitation, Guyuk and Zaria projects.”

Commenting on future prospect of the company, he explained that, “We have already had a strong start to 2016 as we pick up market share from competitors and smugglers. We have increased our fleet and are now able to meet our customer orders timely. We expect raw sugar prices to remain volatile for the rest of the year as weather conditions continue to threaten production in 2015/2016 season but do not expect to exceed the average achieved in 2015. 

"We do not envisage challenges’ sourcing foreign currency as the federal government has insisted on its commitment to the current exchange rate. Refined sugar from cane remains the priority and this path to self-sufficiency will eliminate our reliance on foreign exchange as well as the volatility of raw sugar prices that we currently import,” Sule said.

Some of the high light of the company’s operations in 2015 were season sugar production at Savannah was 6,610 tonnes, up from 6,333 tonnes in 2014. The full year refinery production at Apapa stood at 740,350 tonnes, down from 832,660 tonnes the previous year. Group sugar sales improved from 781,319 tonnes in 2014 to 782,120 in 2015. The company added 100 trucks to the fleet under its management.