At Abdul Samad Rabiu’s BUA Cement posted a 41.4 percent improvement in net profit for the first half of the year on strong revenue growth, according to the company’s earnings report for the period released on Monday.

Revenue was N188.6 billion, up 51.7% from the same period last year.

The cement worker received a huge increase in other income to N200.1 million following a more than seven-fold increase in the value of insurance claims.

Pre-tax profit rose 30.5% to 32.5 billion naira, while after-tax profit climbed to 28.2 billion naira, improving by more than a third on the figure for one year ago.

On the expenditure side, costs rose from 42.2 billion naira to 63.4 billion naira, a direct result of a considerable increase in the cost of sales and, in general, pressure exerted by Nigeria. core inflation which, at 15.8% in June, had increased by 2.7% in twelve months.

Net profit margin, an indicator of the share of revenue turned into profit, fell to 32.5% from 34.9%.

In other words, BUA Cement made about one-third of the net profit on each bag of cement sold during the period.

In March, three contractor workers carrying out routine maintenance at a BUA Cement facility in Sokoto were razed to death following a blaze sparked by a diesel storage tank they were working on.

BUA Cement is controlled by Rabiu, the second richest person in Nigeria and the fifth in Africa, whose wealth according to Forbes estimates is currently $7 billion.

Mr. Rabiu owns 99.99% of the shares of BUA Cement, even though Nigerian stock market laws prohibit this level of control. And the company broke this rule called the free float rule since it was first admitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in January 2020.

Shares of BUA Cement closed trade on Custom Street in Lagos on Monday at N69.30 per unit, registering no movement.