Guinness Nigeria Profit Rises 53% to N25.3 Billion as Finance Costs Decline

Guinness Nigeria Plc reported a 53.3 percent increase in profit after tax to N25.30 billion for the year ended June 30, 2026, supported by revenue growth, improved operating efficiency and a substantial reduction in finance expenses.

Profit increased from N16.51 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, while earnings per share rose to N11.55 from N7.54.

Revenue grew by 11.8 percent to N265.04 billion from N237 billion as the brewer sustained sales growth despite inflationary pressure on consumer spending.

Cost of sales increased by 13.5 percent to N167.57 billion, exceeding the pace of revenue growth. Consequently, gross profit rose by a slower 9 percent to N97.47 billion from N89.38 billion.

The gross profit margin declined to approximately 36.8 percent from 37.7 percent, indicating that higher production and input costs absorbed part of the benefit from stronger sales.

Administrative expenses increased by 4.8 percent to N16.23 billion, while marketing and distribution expenses rose by 6.3 percent to N40.19 billion. Both categories grew more slowly than revenue, demonstrating improved control of operating costs.

Profit from operating activities consequently increased by 14.8 percent to N41.52 billion from N36.16 billion. The operating profit margin improved slightly to 15.7 percent from 15.3 percent.

The major driver of earnings growth was the reduction in finance expenses. Finance costs declined by approximately 64.9 percent to N4.36 billion from N12.44 billion.

Finance income also fell to N1.18 billion from N3.93 billion, but the overall net finance burden declined substantially to about N3.18 billion from N8.51 billion.

This improvement allowed profit before tax to rise by 60.9 percent to N38.34 billion from N23.83 billion, considerably faster than the growth recorded in revenue and operating profit.

Income tax increased by 78.1 percent to N13.03 billion from N7.32 billion. The effective tax rate rose to approximately 34 percent from 30.7 percent, limiting the amount of pre-tax growth that reached shareholders.

Second-quarter performance also remained strong. Revenue increased by 19.9 percent to N142.27 billion from N118.66 billion, while gross profit rose by 20.4 percent to N53.99 billion.

Quarterly operating profit advanced by 34 percent to N24.34 billion, profit before tax climbed by 66.7 percent to N22.59 billion and profit after tax increased by 57.3 percent to N14.91 billion.

For investors, the result shows that Guinness Nigeria is rebuilding profitability through a combination of sales growth, operating discipline and lower financing pressure.

However, the contraction in gross margin suggests that raw-material, energy and production costs remain elevated.

The decline in finance expenses was also a major contributor to the earnings improvement, meaning future profit growth may become more dependent on revenue expansion and stronger production margins once the benefit from lower finance costs normalises.

The published statement contains apparent alignment errors in several rows, with some quarter-to-date and year-to-date figures presented out of sequence.

The analysis above reconciles the figures using the stated revenue, gross profit, operating profit and annual earnings totals. Guinness Nigeria should provide a correctly aligned statement to remove ambiguity for investors.