Aliko Dangote receives $21.1 million in dividends from sugar business

Nigerian billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has received dividends totaling N8.78 billion ($21.1 million) this week from his sugar company Dangote Sugar Refinery, which is one of Nigeria’s leading integrated sugar businesses.

The sum is 33-percent less than the N13.16-billion ($31.7 million) dividend that he received from his stake in the sugar company in 2021, when shareholders received a whopping dividend payout of N18.22 billion ($43.87 million).

Dangote, Africa’s richest man, who had a net worth of $20.6 billion at the time of writing, owns a majority 72.3-percent stake in Dangote Sugar Refinery, Nigeria’s largest household and commercial sugar producer.

The $21.1-million dividend was paid into Dangote’s bank account on Wed., June 15, following shareholder approval at the group’s annual general meeting.

The dividend was paid from the N12.15-billion ($29.2 million) payout recommended by the company’s board of directors based on its 2021 financial results.

Dangote Sugar Refinery posted a group turnover of N276 billion ($664.7 million), a 29-percent increase over the N214 billion ($515.4 million) achieved in the same period in 2020, according to its 2021 financial statements.

Despite the double-digit increase in profit, its profit fell by 26 percent from N29.78 billion ($71.7 million) in 2020 to N22.05 billion ($53.1 million) at the end of its 2021 fiscal year, as earnings were weighed down by inflationary pressures, rising raw material costs, and foreign currency devaluation.

As a result of the lackluster performance, the board revised its dividend payout downward, with shareholders proposing a total dividend of N1 ($0.002407) per share, down from the N1.5-per-share payout, with which it rewarded shareholders a year ago.