…Stocks On Offer At Lagos Bourse
By Uzoma Akobundu
It was a disappointing outing for Lafarge Africa Plc investors on Monday, April 9 as its full year 2017 Loss Before Taxation (LBT) widened by 49.1 per cent to N34.03 billion; from N22.8 billion loss the cement maker reported in 2016.
The company’s full year results are sitting pretty bad at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Revenue for the financial year ended December 31, 2017 grew to N299.153 billion from N219.71billion in 2016. From a profit after tax (PAT) of N16.89 billion in 2016, the group reported a loss after tax (LAT) of N34.60 billion in 2017.
The stocks of Lafarge Africa Plc were on offer at Lagos Bourse evidenced in Monday’s loss of N3.2 or -7.24 per cent to N41.
“Given that Lafarge’s 2017 PBT came in well below consensus, we expect to see marked downward revision to consensus 2018E earnings forecast and a significant sell-off in the shares over the next few days”, said a Nigerian-based research firm in a note to investors a copy seen by armadanews.com.
Lafarge Africa Plc, a leading Sub-Saharan Africa building materials company is a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, a world leader in building materials.
Listed on the NSE with a presence in Africa’s two largest economies, Nigeria and South Africa, Lafarge Africa is actively participating in the urbanisation and economic growth of Africa.
The Board of Directors is proposing a gross dividend of N1.50kobo (2016: N1.05kobo) on every ordinary share in issue amounting to N13.010billion (2016: N5.75billion).
The total dividend proposed if approved by shareholders is payable from the pioneer profits and not subject to deduction of withholding tax.
The dividend is subject to approval by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 16, 2018.