Dangote Cement receives Ba3 rating from Moody’s Investors Service

06 Jul 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

“Dangote Cement is a high-growth, low debt, internationally diversified company that has just paid a dividend amounting to nearly 75 percent of net profits to shareholders,” said Onne van der Weijde, Dangote Cement’s CEO.

Aliko Dangote, President Dangote group

Dangote Cement has announced that it has been assigned a Ba3 local currency corporate family rating by Moody’s Investors Service, with a stable outlook, according to a statement released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Moody's Corporate Family Ratings are opinions of a corporate family's ability to honour all of its financial obligations and is assigned to a corporate family as if it had a single class of debt and a single consolidated legal entity structure. The rating is generally employed for speculative grade issuers and it normally applies to all affiliates under the management control of the entity to which it is assigned.

“Dangote Cement Plc’s Ba3 local currency corporate family rating, one-notch above the Government of Nigeria’s own rating, reflects the company’s strong standalone credit profile and track record of demonstrated financial support from a larger and more diversified parent Dangote Industries Limited,” said Douglas Rowlings, Assistant Vice President and Lead Analyst for Dangote Cement at Moody’s.

Dangote Cement also said Global Credit Ratings has assigned long-term and short-term national scale issuer ratings of AA+ and A1+(NG) to the cement producer, with a stable outlook. The ratings will expire in September 2017.

“Dangote Cement is a high-growth, low debt, internationally diversified company that has just paid a dividend amounting to nearly 75 percent of net profits to shareholders,” said Onne van der Weijde, Dangote Cement’s CEO. “The publication of these ratings highlights the financial strength we have achieved through our unwavering focus on the profitable expansion of the business, underpinned by our belief that we must remain prudent in our financial management.”

Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46 million tonnes per annum (Mta) capacity across Africa. The company has a production capacity of 29.25 Mta in Nigeria alone. Across Africa, Dangote Cement has invested over $3 billion to develop operations in Cameroon (1.5Mta clinker grinding), Congo (1.5Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta import), Ethiopia (2.5Mta), Senegal (1.5Mta), Sierra Leone (0.7Mta import), South Africa (2.7Mta), Tanzania (3.0Mta), Zambia (1.5Mta).


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