Dangote Cement pays N35.09bn in open market as share buyback ends
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Dangote Cement paid the sum of N35.095 billion to repurchase its own shares from its shareholders at the conclusion of the second tranche of its share buyback programme, according to a regulatory disclosure the company filed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
It had previously announced the second tranche of its share buy-back programme on 12 January 2022.
A share buy-back is carried out when the management of a quoted firm considers the company’s shares undervalued and thus, reduces the number of outstanding shares which will, in turn, lead to an increase in both the share price and demand for the shares in the marketplace.
During the buyback programme, the company mopped up a total number of 126,748,153 ordinary shares of the company in the repurchase programme, a figure that represents 0.74 percent of its issued and fully paid ordinary shares.
As had earlier been reported by Business A.M., Dangote Cement conducted the first tranche of its share buyback programme in early 2021 when it repurchased not more than 10 percent of the company’s issued capital, a scheme that was conducted on the local exchange via the open market.
Under the scheme announced last year by the largest cement manufacturer in Africa, the total number of shares repurchased was 40.20 million at an average price of N243 per share, representing 0.24 percent of the company’s issued and fully paid ordinary shares while the total value of shares repurchased was N9.77 billion.
Consequently, the company, the most capitalised company on the Nigerian stock exchange (NGX) with the DangCem ticker, further reported that the tranche II of its buyback programme left it buying its own shares at an average price of N276.89 per share while the total number of residuals issued and fully paid outstanding shares of DCP amounts to 16,873,559,251.
The disclosure notice signed by Edward Imoedemhe, deputy company secretary, reads as follows: “Dangote Cement Plc hereby announces the completion of the second tranche (“Tranche II”) of its share buy-back programme which was announced on 12 January 2022. The total number of shares repurchased was 126,748,153 representing 0.74 percent of the Company’s issued and fully paid ordinary shares sold at an average price of N276.89 with a total value of repurchased shares at N35,095,387,044.59.
“The repurchased shares will be held as treasury shares and may subsequently be cancelled. Execution of this Tranche II did not have any material impact on the Company’s financial position,” it concluded.