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Tag: Dangote

  • CBN Restricts Sugar Importation To Dangote, Flour Mills And BUA

    The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday limited the importation of sugar into the country to three companies: Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, and Golden Sugar Company, which is owned by Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc.

    According to the CBN, in a statement signed by its director of trade and exchange department, Ozoemena Nnaji, the three firms “have made reasonable progress in achieving backward integration” in the sugar sector.

    Backward integration is when a company expands its role to fulfill tasks formerly completed by businesses up the supply chain.

    It can be used to measure how much a company has invested in the development of a sector.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria under the National Sugar Development Council established the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan to encourage and incentivise sugar refining companies in their Backward Integration Programme (BIP) for local sugar production,” the CBN statement said.

    “Accordingly, the underlisted three companies, who have made reasonable progress in achieving backward integration in the sector, shall only be allowed to import sugar into the country.

    “BUA sugar refinery limited, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Golden Sugar Company.

    “In view of the foregoing, authorised dealers shall not open Forms M or access foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign exchange market for any company, including the three listed above for the importation of sugar without the prior and express approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the bank is charged with the mandate of monitoring the implementation of the backward integration programs of all the companies.”

  • Billionaires List: Dangote Remains Africa’s Richest, Adenuga And Rabiu In Top 6

    Billionaires List: Dangote Remains Africa’s Richest, Adenuga And Rabiu In Top 6

    Three of Nigeria’s richest persons made it to the top six of Forbes’ 2021 Africa’s Billionaires list.

    Forbes released its 2021 billionaires list on Tuesday, it includes 14 African billionaires, with the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, retaining the number one spot on the continent.

    Other Nigerians who made the top-6 spot include Chairman of Globacom and Conoil Plc, Dr. Mike Adenuga, and the founder of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu.

    Dangote’s net worth rose from $10.1bn in 2020 to $12.1bn in 2021, making him the 191st wealthiest person in the world.

    Though Adenuga who is Nigeria’s second-richest person witnessed a deep from $7.7bn to $6.3bn, he remained in the top echelon in Africa placing 5th and was ranked 440th in the world.

    Climbing up the billionaires’ ladder is the BUA group boss – Abdulsamad Rabiu who saw his fortune rise from $3.1bn in 2020 to a stunning $5.5bn in 2021.

    With the $2.2bn gain, Mr. Rabiu now sits pretty as the 6th richest in Africa and the 574th billionaire in the world.

    Other Africans who made the top-6 category include one Egyptian and two Southe Africans.

    The Egyptian, Nassef Sawiris comes in second place in Africa and is ranked 297th on the list with a net worth of $8.5bn.

    According to Forbes, Sawiris is an investor and a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family, with his most valuable asset being a nearly six percent stake in sportswear maker.

    The two South Africans who come in third and fourth place respectively are Nicky Oppenheimer (worth $8bn, ranked 308th in the world) and Johann Rupert (worth $7.2bn, ranked 358th in the world list).

    From left: Elon Musk, China’s Kate Wang, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote. MAJA HITIJ/GETTY IMAGES, STEFEN CHOW FOR FORBES, MICHAEL PRINCE FOR FORBES (2) . Credit: Forbes

    Away from Africa, the founder, and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos retained his spot as the world’s richest with a net worth of $177bn. He is followed by Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla with $151bn.

    Forbes notes that within the year in focus, there were rapid-fire public offerings, surging cryptocurrencies, and skyrocketing stock prices, adding that the number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented 2,755—660 more than a year ago.

    According to the business magazine, altogether the billionaires are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion on the 2020 list.

  • Dangote set to earn N13bn in dividend from Sugar business

    Dangote set to earn N13bn in dividend from Sugar business

    Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, is expected to earn a dividend of N13.1bn for the financial year 2020 from his stake in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.

    Africa’s richest man is set to earn N1.50 per share on his direct and indirect investments in Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC, where he holds a direct stake of 653,095,014 units, and an indirect stake of 8,122,446,281 respectively.

    The Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 obtained by our correspondent on Thursday, states that, “As at December 31, 2020, the 12,146,878,241 Ordinary Shares of N0.50 each in the issued Ordinary Share Capital of DSR are beneficially held as follows:

    “Dividend of N1.50k per ordinary share (2019: N1.10k) has been proposed by the Board of Directors for approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.”

    Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc had posted a profit after tax of N29.78bn in 2020, compared to N22.36bn in 2019, according to its audited financial statements.

    The company, in a statement, said despite the disruptions to the economy, owning majorly to coronavirus pandemic, it recorded an increase of 13.7 per cent in production volume to 743,858 tonnes in the financial year ended December 31, 2020 from 654,071 tonnes in 2019.

    It also posted an increase in sales volume, which rose by 6.9 per cent from 684,487 tonnes to 731,701 tonnes.

    The sugar group said the improvements were attributable to operations optimisation strategy despite momentary disruption caused by civil unrest in last quarter of the year.

    It said growth continued to benefit from the sustained efforts to drive customer base expansion and several trade initiatives and investments.

    The group revenue increased by 33 per cent to N214.30bn from N161.09bn in 2019, while the gross profit increased by 40.4 percent to N53.75bn from N38.29bn.

    The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr Ravindra Singhvi, said despite the socioeconomic uncertainties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic during the year under review, the group continued on the growth path with commitments to improve performance and generate value for all stakeholders.

    He said, “Our focus on the implementation of our key strategies in the face of the several challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the peculiarities of the Apapa traffic situation, amongst others, we achieved a topline growth in revenue of N214.30bn, a 33.0 per cent increase over 2019; a 53 per cent y-o-y increase in PBT, and 33.2 per cent increase in PAT.

    “The year 2020 was indeed very eventful for our company, ranging from the weak macroeconomic fundamentals caused by the underlying impact of COVID-19 pandemic which saw to the steady rise in FX rate, high inflation and the significant rise in our cost of production, to the worsening traffic gridlock on the Apapa Wharf road which led to delays and at times disruption of the distribution and deliveries to customers.”

    Billionaire Dangote is the single majority shareholder of his integrated sugar business.

  • Dangote Refinery Can pull Nigeria Out Of Economic Recession – IMF

    Dangote Refinery Can pull Nigeria Out Of Economic Recession – IMF

    The International Monetary Fund, IMF, the global financial watchdog, is projecting that Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery would provide an elixir for the country’s economy when it is completed and start production by 2022.

    In its latest report on Nigeria’s economy, the Fund raised the hope that the start of production from the refinery, solely owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote could help Nigeria improve its Current Account balance.

    It said Dangote Refinery has “the potential to catalyze more domestic crude oil production and boost GDP growth.”

    “On the upside, the Dangote refinery, if commencing production in 2022 as planned, could meet the full demand for domestic consumption of refined petroleum products—which are almost all imported at present—thereby improving the CA balance.

    “With crude oil for local refining not subject to the OPEC quota, the refinery also has the potential to catalyze more domestic crude oil production and boost GDP growth,” the IMF wrote in its Article IV report on Nigeria’s economy released on Monday.

    Many experts have also projected that the refinery, which may cost Dangote about $15 billion to complete is capable of helping to save Nigeria huge foreign exchange in fuel importations.

    The 650,000 capacity Dangote Refinery, is regarded as one of the world’s biggest oil refineries and could end the irony of Africa’s biggest oil producer importing estimated $7 billion of fuel yearly, and instead see it meeting its own needs and supplying neighboring nations.

    Renaissance Capital in a report in 2018 projected that Dangote Refinery has the potential to revolutionize Nigeria’s economy, with its operations adding $13 billion, or 2.3 percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Dangote Refinery, which is described as Nigeria’s largest-ever industrial project, boasts of a distillation column for separating crude into various fuels at different temperatures that is the largest of its kind in the world.

    The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery is just part of a $15 billion petrochemical complex that will also house a gas processor and the world’s biggest plant for ammonia and urea, which is used in making plastics and fertilizer.

    Already, the Fertiliser plants is said to be ready and could be commissioned any time to add to the agricultural revolution not only in Nigeria but in some parts of Africa to boost the continent’s economy.

    The optimism by the global financial watchdog on the potential of Dangote refinery is a victory to the resilient of Africa’s richest man’s contributions to the economic emancipation of Nigeria and the continent at large.

    Dangote’s initial plan to enter the refining business was frustrated by government policy flip-flops when in 2007 he bought one of the country’s refineries under the privatisation programme of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

    However, the dream was short-lived as the entire process of privatization was swiftly reversed by the successive government that came after Obasanjo.

    Today, Dangote’s quest to play in the oil refining business is gradually coming to pass with the impending completion of the plants in the Lekki export free trade zone and the accolade from the global financial watchdog.

  • US court gives Dangote’s ex-mistress 20 days to respond to lawsuit

    US court gives Dangote’s ex-mistress 20 days to respond to lawsuit

    The Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, United States of America, has given a 20-day ultimatum to Autumn Spikes, the embattled ex-mistress of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, to respond to a lawsuit he filed against her.

    According to the court summons served on Spikes, failure to respond to the suit before the expiration of the ultimatum could lead to her losing the case, money, wages, and property.

    Dangote had filed the suit on January 22, demanding the sum of $5 million from Spikes, alleging that she had defamed his character and blackmailed him by sharing a viral video clip showing her seated beside him while lying down on the same couch, with part of his buttocks exposed.

    A copy of the court’s ‘civil action summons’ which was served on the African-American lady on Thursday, said she had ‘20 calendar days’ from the day she was served to file her response, warning her of the consequences of failing to respond to the suit filed by the billionaire businessman.

    The summons reads in part:

    “A lawsuit has been filed against you. You have 20 calendar days after this summons is served on you to file a written response to the attached Complaint with the clerk of this Court.

    “A phone call will not protect you. Your written response, including the case number given above and the names of the parties must be filed if you want the court to hear your side of the case.

    “If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case, and your wages, money, and property may thereafter be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements.

    “If you do not know an attorney, you may call an attorney referral service or a legal aid office listed in the phone book.”

    The messy fight between Dangote and his secret mistress of over 10 years became public knowledge when, on January 1, Spikes released the video on her Instagram page with the handle, @allorounda1, after he reportedly ended the affair.

    The video must have irked Dangote who said she had breached the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), he had with her prior to calling off the affair. He went further to sue her for libel and defamation of character.

    Spikes again took to her Instagram page to say that the billionaire had ‘insulted’ her by offering her a ‘paltry’ sum of $15,000 for her to keep quiet over their affair.

    She added that Dangote had “pressured and influenced” her to sign the NDA and offered to pay her $2,500 every month as palimony to keep her from exposing details of their affair.

  • Aliko Dangote Is Suing Me For Declining His Silence Money – Alleged Ex-lover Reveals

    Aliko Dangote Is Suing Me For Declining His Silence Money – Alleged Ex-lover Reveals

    Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has allegedly sued his alleged ex-lover who shared a video of him lying in bed for refusing his money, WonderTV media reports.

    Autumn some hours ago took to her social media to share an alleged public lawsuit filed by those she claims are Dangote’s legal team.
    The lady alleged that Dangote is suing her for something his ex-girlfriend, Bea Lewis did, while stating that she has never talked about them publicly.

    She also claims that she turned down interviews and talk shows while stating that she only wanted to clear her name after people called her an opportunist.

    WonderTV media gathered that Autumn also claims Aliko Dangote is suing her for $30k for refusing the money he gave her to stay silent after their relationship.

    Adding that they have been together for 9yrs but no one knew about them and now he’s making their ended relationship a public one by suing her publicly.

    She then stated that she doesn’t understand why they are making things public and hard because she has stayed silent for long because of her own sanity and not the reputation of someone.

    In her words;

    “I have not been served.

    But since this is public record, let’s discuss it.

    What are your thoughts?

    I was insultingly offered 15k and 2,500 a month to sign an NDA but I declined. I gained legal counsel in which we countered his offer. Mind you his first initial offer wasn’t disclosed in the terms of his proposed NDA.

    Therefore I was pressured and influenced to sign. Which was already a violation of his own NDA He denied knowing me and our relationship to his lawyers and we’re asked for proof of our affair…now I’m being sued for extortion?

    This is such a manly egotistical move. I’ve kept it private but you made it public with the lawsuit.

    All these claims of interviews and talk show threats will have to be proved in court so… I haven’t spoke to anyone regarding our relationship”

  • Dangote sues his American mistress for exposing his buttocks on social media

    Dangote sues his American mistress for exposing his buttocks on social media

    African’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has filed a lawsuit to claim damages for his battered reputation after one of his American mistresses posted videos on social media that included the billionaires exposed buttocks earlier this month.

    Dangote filed the charges in an American court in Miami, Florida.

    He sought compensation for $30,000 in the civil lawsuit, which he appeared to have filed under a pseudonym John Doe. The name also has an alias that says ‘DA’, which appeared presumably as initials for Aliko Dangote.

    The charges were filed against a woman who was identified as Autumn Spikes. She was on social media to expose the lawsuit and threaten Mr. Dangote that he had taken the wrong turn by making the case public, indicating that the billionaire risked having additional embarrassing information about him published on the Internet as part of the suit.

    Already, the woman claimed Mr. Dangote had offered to pay her for her silence, an arrangement she rejected before the billionaire filed the suit.

    She said the pair had been in a relationship for nine years without a non-disclosure agreement to gag her from publicly commenting on the affair.

  • Dangote tops list of Africa’s richest Billionaires as Forbes releases list

    Dangote tops list of Africa’s richest Billionaires as Forbes releases list

    Aliko Dangote has retained his position as the richest person in Africa with a net worth of $12.5b. He has maintained this position for straight 10 years, this is according to the 2021 Forbes’ Africa Billionaires List released on Friday.

    Also, Mike Adenuga of Globacom, and Abdulsamad Rabiu of BUA Group, both Nigerians, made it to the list as the 5th and 6th richest persons in Africa respectively.

    Forbes stated that in Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the wealthiest came through the pandemic just fine.

    It stated that the continent’s 18 billionaires were worth an average $4.1bn, 12 per cent more than a year ago, driven in part by Nigeria’s surging stock market.

    “For the tenth year in a row, Aliko Dangote of Nigeria is the continent’s richest person, worth $12.1bn, up by $2bn from last year’s list, thanks to a roughly 30 per cent rise in the share price of Dangote Cement, by far his most valuable asset,” Forbes stated in its report.

    The list named the second richest person in Africa as Nassef Sawiris of Egypt, whose largest asset was a nearly six per cent stake in sportswear maker Adidas.

    At number three was Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, who inherited a stake in diamond firm DeBeers and ran the company until 2012, when he sold his family’s 40 per cent stake in DeBeers to mining giant AngloAmerican for $5.1bn.

    It said the biggest gainer this year was another Nigerian cement tycoon, Rabiu.

    “Remarkably, shares of his BUA Cement Plc, which listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange in January 2020, have doubled in value in the past year,” the report stated.

    That pushed Rabiu’s fortune up by an extraordinary 77 per cent, to $5.5bn, adding that Rabiu and his son together own about 97 per cent of the company, giving the company a tiny public float.

    It stated Nigerian Stock Exchange required that either 20 per cent or more of a company’s shares should be floated to the public, or that the floated shares were worth at least N20bn, about $50m, describing it as a paltry sum, to be sure.

    “A spokesman for the Nigerian Stock Exchange told Forbes that BUA Cement meets the second requirement,” the report stated.

    It added that while some got richer by the billions, two from the 2020 list of Africa’s richest dropped below the $1bn mark.

    In fact, the only two women billionaires from Africa had both fallen off the list.

    Forbes calculated that the fortune of Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria, who owns an oil exploration company, dropped below $1bn due to lower oil prices.

    It said Isabel dos Santos, who since 2013 had been the richest woman in Africa, was knocked from her perch by a series of court decisions freezing her assets in both Angola and Portugal.

    It stated that the 18 billionaires from Africa hailed from seven different countries.

    South Africa and Egypt each had five billionaires, followed by Nigeria with three and Morocco with two.

    Altogether they were worth $73.8bn, slightly more than the $73.4bn aggregate worth of the 20 billionaires on last year’s list of Africa’s richest people.

  • Dangote reportedly loss $900 million in just 24 hours

    Dangote reportedly loss $900 million in just 24 hours

    Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, reportedly lost a total of $900 million within 24 hours on Friday, January 8, after his company Dangote Industries Limited emerged the biggest loser at the end of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s wealth reportedly fell from $18.4bn on Thursday to $17.5bn on Friday, making him the 114th wealthiest man in the world, down from 106th the previous day.

    The report also showed that Dangote’s net worth had risen from $15.5bn on December 13 to close the year 2020 at $17.8bn. He further gained $600 million within the first week of 2021 but lost all of it and more last Friday.

    The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, the country’s biggest listed company, and Africa’s largest cement producer, reportedly tumbled by 8.13 percent to close at N225 on Friday from N244.90 on Thursday.

    Despite the loss, Dangote still maintained a place among the list of 500 billionaires across the world at No. 114 and retained his position as Africa’s richest person as of Friday.

    “The majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86 per cent stake in publicly-traded Dangote Cement. He holds the shares in the company directly and through his conglomerate, Dangote Industries,” Bloomberg said.

    His most valuable closely held asset is a fertiliser plant with capacity to produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of urea annually, according to the international news agency.

    “A $12bn oil refinery that is currently being developed in Nigeria isn’t included in the valuation because it’s not yet operational and construction costs are calculated to outweigh its current value,” it said.

  • WTO: Dangote declares support for Okonjo-Iweala

    WTO: Dangote declares support for Okonjo-Iweala

    Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has declared support for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ahead of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) election.

    The third phase of the selection process for the next Director-General will begin September 7.

    With less than a week to commencement, the Dangote Group Chairman canvassed votes for Nigeria’s former Finance Minister.

    The business mogul declared his position via Twitter on Tuesday.

    “In these challenging times @WTO needs the renowned skills and tested experience of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala @NOIweala to lead the organisation through identified obstacles and strengthen its position as the prime facilitator of international trade.

    “A vote for her by all is a step in the right direction. I fully endorse the candidature of @NOIweala to lead @WTO”, he tweeted.

    Also from Africa are Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt) and Amina Mohamed (Kenya).

    Other candidates are Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri (Saudi Arabia), Liam Fox (United Kingdom), Jesús Seade Kuri (Mexico), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova) and Yoo Myung-hee (Republic of Korea).