Also, Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa listed under Industrial Goods sector have proposed a final dividend of N340.810 billion, representing N20 per share and N16.108 billion or N1 per share, respectively.
Seplat Energy plans to pay a dividend of $0.426 cent per cent, resulting in a total payout of N250.677 million in naira, while Transcorp Hotels, listed under Services sector, declared dividend of N716.977 million or seven kobo (N0.07) per share.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals have proposed N132.941 million final dividend or seven kobo (0.07) per share, UPDC REIT proposed dividend of N3.24 billion, representing 18 kobo per share while MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) declared a final dividend of N8.57 per share, amounting to N174.442 billion.
Others include: Union Homes REIT N477 million, Cadbury Nigeria N449 million and Cornerstone Insurance N908 million.
Top five dividend payout
Dangote Cement led the top five dividend paying companies in the year under review with N340.82 billion followed by Seplat Energy N250.677 billion. MTN occupied the third position recording N174.442 billion followed by Zenith Bank with N87.910 billion and Guaranty Trust Holding with N79.464 billion.
Lowest five dividend payout
Neimeth led the five lowest dividend payout in the year under review with N132.941 million followed by Union Homes REIT N477 million. Transcorp Hotels followed with N715 million while Cornerstone Insurance and Cadbury followed with N908 million and N939 million respectively.
Analysts’ comments
While commending the increased dividend pay-out, market analysts noted dividend-paying stocks is very important to income investors for many reasons, saying that the reason is that dividend payment plays a role in stock valuation.
“Beyond valuation, dividend paying stocks can be a good source of stable income streams. Many investors will want to invest in companies with a history of growing dividends,” they said.
Commenting as well, shareholders commended impressive earnings by listed companies and dividend payout amid domestic and global macro-economic shareholders challenges.
Speaking, President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie: “The listed companies have shown resilient performance despite numerous challenges in the economy. Zenith Bank has surpassed analysts’ expectations with profit and dividend payout to investors, the same for GTCO, UBA, among others.”
Okezie however questioned Dangote Cement’s N20 per ordinary share dividend to investors, maintaining that the cement manufacturing could have rewarded investors better for 2021 financial year.
On his part, Managing Director/CEO APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mr. Garba Kurfi commended listed companies for posting impressive results and accounts for 2021, expressing concerns that the declared dividend by these companies did not reflect in the trajectory of the stock market.
He said: “These companies have declared impressive dividend payout to investors but I do not know why the stock market did not respond to dividend payout by Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, among others. The likes of GTCO and UBA released their audited accounts and I am yet to see stock price appreciation.
“Take for instance, Lafarge Africa last year was trading at N31.00 and declared N1.00 per ordinary but this year, the company declared N2.00 and trading at N24.00 per share. The dividend by these companies has not been reflected in our domestic market.”
However, Chief Executive Officer, Wyoming Capital & Partners, Mr. Tajudeen Olayinka stressed the need for investors to investigate if these companies were paying from the reserve or current earnings reported on the NGX.
“For those companies that have proposed a dividend, we praise their effort. If a company is paying from current earnings, it shows effective management despite the challenges. What some of these companies are paying as dividends is substantial which is good for their stock prices.”
He added that: “It is excessive if a company is paying over 10 per cent yield on its dividend to shareholders and it means these companies are operating at a higher cost per capital. When you have a functional market where companies are doing well, I don’t expect a company to pay more than five per cent yield on dividend to shareholders.
“That was the level our domestic market was in 2007 before the global economic meltdown. If a company is able to pay at least five per cent yield, it means they will be able to raise money at a low level per capital.” VANGUARD
