Billionaire Aliko Dangote’s cement firm posts $714m profit

Dangote Cement Plc, the Lagos-listed company controlled by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, increased its profit by 31% in the first nine months of 2026 and paid down enough debt to end September with more cash than borrowings.

Profit after tax rose to ₦974.8 billion ($714 million) in the nine months to Sept. 30, from ₦743.3 billion a year earlier, according to the company’s unaudited results filed with the Nigerian Exchange. Revenue grew 19.6% to ₦3.77 trillion ($2.77 billion), and profit before tax climbed 41.5% to ₦1.47 trillion ($1.08 billion). Earnings per share rose 33.2% to ₦58.37.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 23.7% to ₦1.77 trillion ($1.29 billion), lifting the margin to 46.8% from 45.3%.

Profit growth picked up in the third quarter. Profit after tax for the three months jumped 50.9% to ₦336.3 billion ($246 million) on revenue of ₦1.26 trillion ($923 million), up 16.4%.

Debt paid down

The biggest change was on the balance sheet. Dangote Cement cut its borrowings to ₦541.5 billion ($397 million) from ₦1.08 trillion at the end of December, after repaying more than ₦520 billion of loans. That turned net debt of ₦682.9 billion at the start of the year into net cash of ₦51.1 billion.

“The defining achievement of this period is the transformation of our balance sheet,” Chief Executive Officer Arvind Pathak said. “Dangote Cement is now a net-cash company.”

Lower borrowings cut net finance costs to ₦97 billion from ₦208.9 billion. The company generated ₦1.26 trillion ($923 million) of free cash flow in the nine months, about 1.7 times the ₦753.8 billion it paid out in dividends.

“From here, with our deleveraging complete, free cash flow is no longer absorbed by debt paydown,” Pathak said. The board will review how to split cash between expansion and returns to shareholders when it reports full-year results.

Nigeria leads the way

Group cement sales rose 9.4% to 22.1 million tons. Nigeria, which supplies most of the profit, sold 14.1 million tons, up 6.4%, and its revenue rose 22.5% to ₦2.67 trillion ($1.96 billion) at a margin of 59.8%. Exports of cement and clinker from Nigeria climbed 41.8% to 1.5 million tons, including 26 clinker shipments to Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.

The company’s operations in other African countries sold 9.1 million tons, up 14%, and earned ₦1.19 trillion ($872 million) in revenue. Senegal grew 29.9%, Ethiopia 18.8% and Tanzania 9.2%, and a new grinding plant in Ivory Coast sold 529,200 tons. Sales in Ghana and Cameroon were lower.

Dangote Cement is spending on new capacity. The first phase of a 6 million-ton-a-year plant at Itori in Ogun state is on track to be commissioned and should add volumes from 2027, part of a plan to lift total capacity to 80 million tons from 55 million tons across Africa. The company expects high single-digit sales growth for the full year and a margin in the mid-40s.

The results come as investors push the stock to records. Dangote Cement shares jumped 10% on Monday to ₦1,222.10, giving the company a market value of more than ₦20 trillion ($15 billion) for the first time.

Dangote, Africa’s richest person, owns about 87% of the company, mostly through Dangote Industries Ltd. His $20 billion oil refinery near Lagos closed its initial public offering on Tuesday.