Investors’ confidence swells Dangote stocks to N2.16 trillion

As the confidence level of investors in the Nigerian Stock Exchange continues to improve, investors swoop on Dangote Groups’ stocks listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), making Dangote close the first quarter with N2.16 trillion.

The group’s stocks listed on the NSE are that of Dangote Cement Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote Flour Mills Plc and National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc (NASCON).

The shares of Dangote Cement Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote Flour Mills Plc and National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc (NASCON) lifted their value to N2.163 trillion, up from N2.1 trillion at end of 2010.

The NSE All-Share Index, which is the benchmark to measure the performance of the market, recorded a negative growth of 0.6 per cent in Q1 of 2011 following the bearish run that enveloped the market due to elections fever among other factors.

In performance, the Dangote Group accounted for 27.4 per cent of the total value of the equities listed on the NSE as at the end of Q1.

The value of the shares of the four companies recently jumped by N91 billion  as investors reacted positively to the news  that Aliko Dangote, who is the president of Dangote Group, is now the richest man  in Africa.

A breakdown of the market capitalisation of the companies showed that Dangote Cement accounted for N1.921 trillion. Dangote Sugar followed with N150 billion, while Dangote Flour Mills Plc and NASCON ended the quarter at N78 billion and N14 billion respectively.

Forbes magazine in its annual world’s billionaires ranking said Dangote has a net worth of $13.8 billion to emerge the richest man in Africa for the first time.

In an apparent move to benefit from the fortunes of the business mogul, investors swooped on the shares of the four companies.

Market watchers say that as the new quarter begins, shares of the companies would attract more patronage following expectation of dividends from the companies. The companies are known for their robust dividend policy, paying a total of N60 billion for the year ended December 31, 2009.

Going by the recent words of Dangote, shareholders in the companies have a very bright future. The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote recently said that the companies in the Group will be worth $60 billion by 2015.

He said: “We are working towards making Dangote the biggest conglomerate in Africa. Now that we are training youths in the Dangote Academy, we are targeting that by 2015, Dangote will have $60 billion market capitalisation. When you look at the equivalent, the total reserve of Nigeria is about $35 billion, by the next four years. Our own market capitalisation should be somewhere around twice the reserve of Nigeria, and that means in the cement side, by this time 2014,we should be producing more than 50 million metric tonnes in more than 14 countries excluding Nigeria. And in sugar, we are trying to do the same thing. The same thing we did in cement, we are going to replicate in sugar.”

Dangote Group, in 2010 enriched shareholders with N60.21bn as dividends in four of her company listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The investors received a total of N60.21 billion as dividend even as many quoted companies could not pay dividend due to the harsh operating environment.