Dangote Cement becomes first Nigerian company to adopt XBRL reporting format

Dangote Cement becomes first Nigerian company to adopt XBRL reporting format

Dangote Cement has become the first Nigerian listed company to report its financial results using IFRS taxonomy.

The largest cement manufacturer announced that its financial information has been made available to investors in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format using the IFRS taxonomy.

XBRL enables companies standardize the preparation, publishing, and exchange of financial information in a machine-readable format. It is mainly used by publicly listed companies which are required to use it by law, such as companies listed in the USA, Europe, and South Africa.

Data contained in the company’s third quarter 2020, Full Year 2020 and first quarter 2021 financial statements are now available in XBRL format.

Michel Puchercos, Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, on the execution of XBRL, said: “We believe that adopting XBRL reporting will strongly benefit Dangote Cement’s existing and potential investors. It represents another step in Dangote Cement’s continuing efforts to modernize and enhance transparency of, and access to, companies’ disclosures.”

According to him, the adoption of XBRL will “enable our publicly available financial information to be captured accurately and promptly, thus bringing uniformity of our results on all the platforms and ensuring that investors and analysts who use these platforms have the correct information.”

Although XBRL reporting is not mandatory for companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange, it is becoming a universal format to exchange financial data and promotes the coordination of international reporting requirements.

The implementation of XBRL demonstrates Dangote Cement’s strong dedication to reaching international reporting and corporate governance standards, Puchercos said.

“As Africa’s leading cement producer,” he added, “we are leading the way with our commitment to sustainability and best practice.  We are driven by the goal of achieving the highest level of governance and building a prosperous and sustainable brand for all our stakeholders.  Transparency and consistency are at the core of every part of our business culture.”

What you should know about XBRL

XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world.

It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis, and communication of business information.

It offers greater efficiency, improved accuracy, and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data. It is already being put to practical use in several countries and implementations of XBRL are growing rapidly around the world.

Why Dangote has adopted it

For Dangote Cement, the company said XBRL increases the usability of financial statement information. The need to re-key financial data for analytical and other purposes are now eliminated. By presenting its statements in XBRL, the company offers a lot of benefits to investors and other stakeholders.

More about Dangote Cement

Dangote Cement Plc is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest cement producer with an installed capacity of 48.6Mta across 10 African countries and operates a fully integrated “quarry-to-customer” business with activities covering manufacturing, sales, and distribution of cement.

Dangote Cement has a long-term credit rating of AAA+ by GCR and Aa2.ng by Moody’s due to its market leading position, significant operational scale and strong financial profile evidenced by the company’s robust operating and net profit margins relative to regional and global peers, adequate working capital, satisfactory cash flow and low leverage.