Twiga Cement dividend hits Sh55bn

Dar es Salaam. Shareholders for Tanzania Portland Cement Company Limited (trading as Twiga) will smile all the way to the bank, thanks to a Sh55 billion dividend payments that was agreed at their annual general meeting (AGM) at the weekend.

Shareholders endorsed a dividend payment of Sh306 per share from the company’s 2015 profits.

That was an increase of 14.6 per cent per share compared with Sh267 per share or a total dividend of Sh48.03 billion that was issued in last year from 2014 profits. “The dividend includes two interim amounts of Sh95/share and Sh111/share paid in October 2015 and February 2016 respectively…The last dividend of Sh100/share will be paid on/about June 30, 2016,” the company says in its financial statement. Twiga Cement has had a smooth ride throughout 2015, raising its sales by a cool 22 per cent compared to 2014 figures, thanks to increased capacity and production efficiency among other factors.

With increased sales, revenues grew by Sh44.6 billion to reach Sh288 billion in 2015, sending the net profit up by three per cent compared with 2014 figures. It reached Sh56.2 billion in 2015.

And the company’s managing director, Mr Alfonso Rodriguez, told shareholders during the 24th AGM in Dar es Salaam that 2015 has been a year of consolidation for TPCC, with especial focus on management control and cost reduction.

“The year has also been marked by strong downwards price trend due to growing over capacity as well as by the deep devaluation of Tanzanian Shilling against the US dollar,” he said. However he noted that, consolidation of the strategic changes on TPCC product mix, as well as increased quality of own clinker production, helped the company to continue reducing overall variable cost and allowed the cement maker to remain competitive in such a challenging market situation.