…Profit after tax grew by 26.4% y/y to N7.02 billion.
FRI APRIL 24 2026-theGBJournal| Unilever Nigeria Plc on Thursday reported a solid start to 2026, posting an earnings per share of N1.22, up 26.4% year-on-year, underpinned by robust revenue growth and improved operating efficiency.
Revenue rose by 26.0% y/y in Q1-26, supported by lingering pricing gains and a gradual recovery in volumes.
Growth was largely driven by the Food Products segment, which surged 37.0% y/y and increased its share of total revenue to 63.7%. In contrast, Personal Care recorded a modest 4.6% y/y growth, reflecting weaker consumer demand for discretionary items, while Beauty & Wellbeing expanded by 30.4% y/y, albeit at a slower pace compared to prior periods.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, overall revenue was broadly flat, as gains in Food Products offset declines in Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing.
Profitability strengthened significantly during the period. Gross margin improved by 485 basis points to 45.0%, driven by relatively contained cost of sales growth of 15.8% y/y. This reflects ongoing cost optimisation efforts, particularly in production inputs and energy usage.
The company also recorded notable operating leverage, with EBIT and EBITDA margins rising to 19.4% and 20.7%, respectively. This came despite a sharp 49.4% increase in operating expenses, as strong revenue performance and controlled input costs cushioned the impact of higher overheads.
However, finance performance weakened, with net finance income declining by 22.0% y/y to N1.94 billion.
This was largely due to a significant spike in finance costs, driven by FX losses on bank balances, which outweighed gains in finance income.
Overall, profit before tax increased by 24.8% y/y to N13.42 billion, while profit after tax grew by 26.4% y/y to N7.02 billion.
Despite a still-elevated effective tax rate of 47.7%, the company’s strong operational performance enabled it to sustain bottom-line growth and reinforce earnings momentum.
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