Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc posted a profit after tax of N29.78bn in 2020, compared to N22.36bn in 2019, according to its audited financial statements.
The company said in a statement on Monday that despite the disruptions to the economy, owning majorly to coronavirus pandemic, it recorded an increase of 13.7 per cent in production volume to 743,858 tonnes in the financial year ended December 31, 2020 from 654,071 tonnes in 2019.
It also posted an increase in sales volume, which rose by 6.9 per cent from 684,487 tonnes to 731,701 tonnes.
The sugar group said the improvements were attributable to operations optimisation strategy despite momentary disruption caused by civil unrest in last quarter of the year.
It said growth continued to benefit from the sustained efforts to drive customer base expansion and several trade initiatives and investments.
The group revenue increased by 33 per cent to N214.30bn from N161.09bn in 2019, while the gross profit increased by 40.4 percent to N53.75bn from N38.29bn.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr Ravindra Singhvi, said despite the socioeconomic uncertainties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic during the year under review, the group continued on the growth path with commitments to improve performance and generate value for all stakeholders.
He said, “Our focus on the implementation of our key strategies in the face of the several challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the peculiarities of the Apapa traffic situation, amongst others, we achieved a topline growth in revenue of N214.30bn, a 33.0 per cent increase over 2019; a 53 per cent y-o-y increase in PBT, and 33.2 per cent increase in PAT.
“The year 2020 was indeed very eventful for our company, ranging from the weak macroeconomic fundamentals caused by the underlying impact of COVID-19 pandemic which saw to the steady rise in FX rate, high inflation and the significant rise in our cost of production, to the worsening traffic gridlock on the Apapa Wharf road which led to delays and at times disruption of the distribution and deliveries to customers.”
Singhvi added the Business Continuity Management System the company activated during the lockdown periods due to the pandemic and disruptions caused by EndSARS protests helped to minimise the adverse impact the situation had on businesses in the country.
He noted that one of the key highlights during the year was the successful completion of the Scheme of Arrangement – merger of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Savannah Sugar Company Limited with effect from September 1, 2020 to operate under one unified entity.
“We are confident the merger will enable us to achieve operational, administrative and governance efficiencies resulting in increased shareholder value. We will continue to pursue our backward integration projects, and other key initiatives to grow our sales volumes, market share, optimize cost and operational efficiencies,” he said.
