Dangote Cement Reports Strong Profit Growth in Q1 2025

Dangote Cement Plc has announced impressive financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2025, with substantial profit growth despite challenges in production volume.

The cement manufacturer recorded a pre-tax profit of ₦311.974 billion in Q1 2025, representing an 87.48% increase from the ₦166.404 billion achieved during the same period in 2024. Net profit rose to ₦209.245 billion, marking an 85.71% year-on-year growth compared to ₦112.674 billion in Q1 2024.

Total revenue climbed to ₦994.659 billion, a 21.69% improvement over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

While maintaining its overall production capacity at 52 million metric tons, the company experienced a decline in actual production and sales volumes:

• Production volume decreased by 7.41% year-on-year to 6.547 million tons.
• Sales volume reduced by 6.72% to 6.569 million tons.

The Nigerian operations showed remarkable strength, with revenue rising to ₦696.042 billion. This increased Nigeria’s contribution to group revenue from 55.41% in Q1 2024 to 69.98% in Q1 2025.

Meanwhile, the Pan-African segment experienced a 15.37% year-on-year revenue reduction to ₦322.653 billion, thereby decreasing its contribution to group revenue to 32.44%.

Fuel and power costs remained significant at ₦177.193 billion, continuing to be a major component of the overall cost of sales. However, the company managed to control its cost growth rate below that of revenue expansion, resulting in improved profitability metrics:

• Gross profit margin increased to 59%, representing a 15-percentage-point improvement from Q1 2024.
• Operating profit margin rose to 39.96% from 31.23% in Q1 2024, a 27.92% enhancement.

The company’s administrative, selling, and distribution expenses totaled ₦205.480 billion, with transportation and logistics (haulage) accounting for over 60% of these costs.

Finance costs saw only a modest increase due to significantly reduced foreign exchange losses, which fell from ₦63.765 billion in Q1 2024 to ₦17.472 billion in Q1 2025. Despite this improvement, interest expenses remained substantial at ₦110.302 billion.

The overall financial performance demonstrates Dangote Cement’s resilience and effective cost management strategies in a challenging operational environment, resulting in significantly improved profitability despite lower production volumes.