Key points
- Dangote Cement recorded a record ₦1.01 trillion profit after tax in 2025, more than double the previous year’s earnings.
- Shareholders approved a final dividend of ₦45 per share, representing a 50 per cent increase over 2024.
- Company well positioned to hit 25-million-tonne expansion target via M&As and strategic funding.
- Management attributed high production costs to dollar-denominated gas prices but said investments in CNG trucks and exports were helping to improve efficiency.
Main story
Dangote Cement Plc has reported a record profit after tax of ₦1.014 trillion for the 2025 financial year, as shareholders approved a final dividend of ₦45 per share.
The financial results were presented at the company’s 17th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Thursday in Lagos.
The audited accounts showed that group revenue rose by 20.3 per cent to ₦4.31 trillion, up from ₦3.58 trillion in 2024, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 43.4 per cent to ₦1.98 trillion.
The company said its profit after tax grew by 101.7 per cent to ₦1.014 trillion, supported by stronger operating performance and a 50 per cent reduction in commercial bank borrowings.
Shareholders overwhelmingly approved the proposed ₦45 dividend per share, representing a 50 per cent increase over the ₦30 paid for the previous financial year.
Answering questions on the proposed 25-million-tonne expansion drive across Africa, the Board Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Ikazoboh, said the company was well positioned to achieve the goal through M&As and other strategic funding initiatives. The expansion would take Dangote Cement’s current production capacity of 51.6 million tonnes to over 76 million tonnes within five years.
Also speaking, Dr. Faruk Umar, President of the Association for the Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, commended the company for delivering its first ₦1 trillion annual profit after tax.
He also praised management for significantly reducing its borrowings, saying the move had lowered financing costs and strengthened profitability.
Umar further applauded the board for recommending a 50 per cent increase in dividends before asking whether shareholders could expect a similar level of dividend growth in the future.
Management also addressed concerns over cement pricing, explaining that energy accounts for about 60 per cent of manufacturing costs.
Mr Ikazoboh said the company’s ex-depot price is aligned with the current economic realities of the country to make cement as affordable as possible, but lamented that natural gas, one of its major production inputs, is priced in US dollars, making manufacturing costs highly vulnerable to foreign exchange fluctuations.
He urged distributors to remain mindful of these realities in their own pricing, noting that keeping cement affordable along the value chain was key to sustaining demand and supporting the construction sector.
To reduce logistics costs, the company disclosed that it had deployed about 3,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks into its haulage operations.
The AGM also approved the re-election of directors, the appointment of members of the statutory audit committee and authorised the company to pursue a possible secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Independent auditors KPMG Professional Services issued an unmodified opinion on the company’s financial statements.
The issues
Dangote Cement’s record earnings come despite persistent macroeconomic pressures, including foreign exchange volatility, rising energy costs and inflation. While the company has strengthened profitability through debt reduction and exports, shareholders asked that the vision to expand production capacity be matched with a clear roadmap — one they saw as a legacy investment built to benefit generations to come.
What’s being said
”To produce a bag of cement, we need energy to constitute 60% of the cost of producing cement. And to generate energy, we need either gas or coal or diesel. Gas is sold to us in US dollars. And they are always increasing it. And you know the exchange rate between the dollar and the naira. As a result, the price of generating energy is always increasing. So this is why, this is the best we can do. Our ex-depot price is the actual factory cost we control to keep the business bankable, but once it leaves our gates, the final market pricing is driven by independent distributors and logistics layers that we do not directly dictate.”
— Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, Chairman of the Board
What’s next
The company is expected to provide more details on its capacity expansion programme as projects progress across Africa while continuing efforts to reduce costs, expand exports and explore a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Bottom line
Dangote Cement delivered its strongest financial performance on record in 2025, rewarding shareholders with a significantly higher dividend. Attention is now shifting from record profits to whether the company’s next wave of African expansion can sustain growth and continue delivering stronger returns
