LafargeHolcim offers highest ever cash dividend for 2022

Multinational cement maker LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Limited (LHBL) has declared a 48 per cent final cash dividend to its shareholders for the year 2022, the highest since its incorporation. The dividend payout declaration came from a meeting of the company’s board held on Thursday.

The publicly traded company’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 3.83 for the year ended in December 2022, from Tk 3.34 for the year ended in December 2021.

Besides, its operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) surged by 23 per cent year on year to Tk 597 crore in 2022. Meanwhile, the company’s net sales jumped by 15 per cent to Tk 2,359 crore last year compared to Tk 2,053 crore in 2021.

The journey toward cost leadership remained a focal point throughout the year and had a very positive impact on the overall result, helping to grow the earnings, the cement maker cited in an official statement.

The company also said its prime focus still remained to continue the strong growth momentum through innovative and sustainable solutions for its customers.

Iqbal Chowdhury, chief executive officer (CEO) of LHBL said, “2022 was a commendable year for us, as we displayed record performance both in profitability and cash generation.”

He thanked to his teammates saying, “Such a staggering performance was possible only due to their relentless efforts.”

“We launched fresh sustainable products, such as ‘Supercrere Plus’ which ensured our growth in the aggregates business, while our digital footprint got strengthened, and new business channels were created.”

The cement maker’s board yesterday recommended the payment of a cash dividend of 15 per cent at Tk 1.50 per equity share of Tk 10 face value for the year ending 2022.

Earlier, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh paid a 15 per cent interim dividend for the first half of 2022.

Later, the multinational company also declared an 18 per cent cash dividend as an interim payment for the first 10 months of 2022. The total interim cash dividend was 33 per cent for the year.

In the April-June quarter last year, the company reported revenue of Tk 501 crore and a net profit of Tk 123 crore, which was 6 per cent and 10 per cent respectively higher than those in the same quarter of the previous year.

According to the company’s financial statement, its revenue increased by 24 per cent to Tk571 crore, and profit rose by 21 per cent to Tk113 crore in the July-September quarter of 2022 on a year on year basis.

At the end of the January-September period of 2022, its total revenue stood at Tk 1,698 crore, while its net profit was Tk 330 crore.

LHBL CEO said the company continued to advance its sustainable leadership with the ‘Geocyle’, a waste management initiative aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We are poised for 2023 as we look to continue introducing new innovative and sustainable building material solutions in the Bangladesh market. This will further differentiate us from others in the market,” he added.

According to the company, the current year would be another challenging one as geopolitical uncertainty and inflationary pressure are likely to continue this year as well.

“Despite the odds, we are optimistic about continuing to deliver strong performance, as we demonstrated in the previous years,” LHBL CEO continued.