The Nigerian Exchange Limited, on Thursday, said investors in the Nigerian capital market had earned over N1tn from dividend payout by companies listed on the NGX in the past year.
It said in a statement that year-to-date, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and eight others emerged as the highest companies in terms of total dividends paid while Nestle, Total Energies Plc and eight others emerged as the highest in terms of dividends paid per share.
The NGX said dividend payment was one of the very few ways available for investors to earn a constant stream of income.
It stated, “It is also the main reason shareholders hold onto their shares in a company. It, therefore, brings great satisfaction to investors when these companies declare dividends to their shareholders.”
According to corporate action from the NGX website, 57 companies across 11 sectors of quoted companies on Nigerian Exchange Limited had so far paid out N1.107tn.
The data showed that 22 companies emerged from the financial services sector, nine companies from consumer goods and four emerged from industrial goods.
It added that four companies emerged from the healthcare sector, three companies each from the oil and gas sector and the ICT sector, two companies each from the conglomerates, agriculture and construction sector, while one company emerged from the natural resource sector.
The data showed that Dangote Cement in the industrial goods sector recorded N340.8bn; MTN Nigeria Communications in the ICT sector posted N174.4bn; BUA Cement in the Industrial Goods sector posted N88bn; while Zenith Bank Plc in the financial services sector recorded N87.9bn.
It stated that Nestle Nigeria Plc topped the highest companies in terms of dividend per share with N25.50 per share.
Dangote Cement Plc posted about N20 per share while Total Energies, Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria, Okomu Oil, Presco Plc, BUA Foods Plc, Zenith Bank and GTCO followed in the descending order.
