Despite the bears that ravaged the nation’s stock market in 2011, Dangote Cement Plc remained the most capitalised company on Nigerian bourse closing the year with NGN1.716tn. The second company to Dangote Cement in terms of market capitalisation is Nigerian Breweries Plc, with a distant NGN714bn. Dangote Cement, which is a member of Dangote Group, the Pan African conglomerate, has been ruling the market as the most capitalised equity since October 2010. And market analysts have said the equity would continue to rule the market in 2012 going by the trend. According to them, the prospects coming from the six metric tons Ibeshe new cement plant, which is expected to boost its earnings and ultimately returns on shareholders investments, would also impact positively on the performance of the Dangote Cement in the market going forward. Already, shareholders are looking up to a bountiful harvest for the year ended December 31, 2011 as the company is expected to surpass the NGN65.84bn paid out in 2010 as profit. Shareholders of the company had harvested a dividend of NGN4.25 per share for 2010, comprising NGN2 interim and NGN2.25 final dividend. The third quarter results ended September 30, 2011, has already raised investors’ hope for improved returns. According to the results, Dangote Cement posted turnover of NGN173bn, showing an increase of 18.6 per cent above the NGN146.6bn in the corresponding period of 2010. Profit after tax rose by 22 per cent to hit NGN92.8bn. Commenting on the results, analysts at Afrivest West Africa Limited, a leading investment bank, said the performance of the Cement Company was broadly in line with their expectations. “Profitability margins improved over the period as profit before tax and profit after tax margins stood at 54 per cent and 53.4 per cent from 52.5 per cent and 51.4 per cent in 2010. On a quarterly basis, the improvement see margins appear more pronounced, with quarterly margins of 57.8 per cent and 57.5 per cent for the period from 52.7 per cent and 51.9 per cent for pre and post-tax margins respectively,” they said. Apart from benefitting the shareholders, the Ibeshe plant located near Ilaro, in Ogun State, is also expected to boost the labour market as it is expected to create over 7,000 jobs. President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said recently that with the new plant, means of livelihood for Nigerians would come through direct and indirect jobs. Dangote assured that with his Group’s massive investments in the cement production, not only will Nigerians enjoy reduced price stability, but also the nation would become exporter of the commodity to other countries.