…₦114.1 billion nine-month profit marks a strong recovery. A sharp decline in quarterly production costs cushions falling revenue, while a tax benefit boosts third-quarter earnings.
THUR OCT 29 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian Breweries Plc is delivering a substantial earnings recovery, with nine-month profit rising 33.4% to ₦114.1 billion, as lower costs and improving margins translate modest revenue growth into significantly stronger earnings.
The brewer reported revenue of ₦1.103 trillion for the nine months ended September 2026, up 5.9% from ₦1.041 trillion a year earlier. Gross profit climbed 15.1% to ₦477.9 billion, while operating profit advanced 9.8% to ₦179.2 billion.
The numbers point to an increasingly important shift in the company’s recovery: profitability is growing faster than sales.
But the third-quarter figures complicate the picture. Revenue fell 3% year-on-year to ₦299.0 billion, suggesting that the earnings improvement is not being driven by accelerating sales growth.
Instead, the standout development is the reduction in costs.
Cost of sales for the third quarter fell 13.8% to ₦175.9 billion, substantially outperforming the 3% decline in revenue. That pushed quarterly gross profit up 18.1% to ₦123.0 billion.
Gross margin expanded to 41.2% from 33.8% a year earlier, an improvement of approximately 7.4 percentage points.
For the nine-month period, gross margin increased to 43.3% from 39.9%.
This is the clearest evidence of the earnings recovery. Nigerian Breweries is retaining more gross profit from each naira of revenue, creating room for stronger operating earnings even without corresponding sales growth.
Operating profit rose 35.4% to ₦15.2 billion in the third quarter, compared with ₦11.2 billion a year earlier.
Profit before tax reached ₦15.4 billion, reversing a loss of ₦2.8 billion in the corresponding 2025 quarter.
Net profit surged to ₦21.1 billion from a loss of ₦2.9 billion.
There is, however, an important qualification: the company reported an income-tax benefit of ₦5.79 billion for the quarter, rather than an income-tax expense. This benefit lifted reported net profit above profit before tax.
Consequently, the quarterly bottom-line recovery reflects both stronger operating performance and a favourable tax contribution.
For the nine months, income-tax expense stood at ₦57.6 billion, compared with ₦44.0 billion a year earlier.
Despite the higher tax burden, nine-month profit after tax increased 33.4% to ₦114.1 billion.
X-@theGBJournal|email:gbj@govbusinessjournal.com|govandbusinessj@gmail.com
