(Bloomberg) -- Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Nigeria’s biggest producer of the sweetener, reported its first annual loss after the devaluation of the naira increased finance and input costs.

The company — controlled by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man — reported a net loss of 73.8 billion naira ($47.7 million) for 2023 compared with a profit of 54.7 billion naira a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Revenue increased 9.5% to 441.45 billion naira, it said.

Nigeria’s currency crisis, which stems from a scarcity of dollars, has resulted in companies including Nestle Nigeria Plc report losses, while others have exited the nation. MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest wireless service provider, last week said that the 49% plunge in the naira against the greenback last year nearly wiped out its profit last year. 

“Challenges faced in sourcing adequate quantity of foreign currencies from the official markets,” resulted in slowdown of business operations, Dangote Sugar said in the filing.  

Dangote Sugar’s shares plunged as much as the 10% limit following the earnings announcement. 

The company’s finance costs surged more than 20-fold to 201.7 billion naira after converting foreign-currency obligations at a weaker naira, it said. 

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