Nestlé Nigeria Plc is looking to resume dividend payment “soon”, marking the first time in three years after the consumer goods giant rode naira stability and moderating inflation to return to profitability in the full year 2025.
The Nigerian unit of the world’s largest food & beverage company returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2024 and has sustained that momentum, leading to posting a net profit of N104.97 billion for the year ended December 31, compared with a loss of N164.6 billion in 2024, according to its audited statement.
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Those losses strained the equity position of the company. Nestlé Nigeria held its dividend steady for four years until 2022. But FX and interest-driven losses took hold in 2023, when it reported a N79 billion loss after tax, swelling to N165 billion in 2024. That pushed equity to -N92.3 billion and retained losses to N243 billion by year-end.
With the results achieved in 2025, negative retained earnings have slowed significantly, falling by 53.6 percent from N243.2 billion in 2024 to N112.8 billion in 2025.
“This improved performance has positively impacted our equity position. We are optimistic that as long as the business generates positive net profit, we will soon eliminate the negative retained earnings and resume dividend payments,” Wassim Elhusseini, CEO/managing director of Nestlé Nigeria, said in a filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday.
The food maker is also aiming to deepen marketing investments as it looks to capture additional market share in a rather fast-moving consumer goods sector.
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Pricing lifts topline to the trillion-naira mark, as revenue climbed to N1.21 trillion from N958.8 billion, while gross profit rose 42 percent to N435.9 billion. Operating profit increased 34 percent to N225.4 billion, suggesting the company was able to pass through higher input costs to consumers despite fragile purchasing power.
For a consumer goods firm in Africa’s most populous nation, crossing the trillion-naira revenue mark is as symbolic as it is financial. It signals both the inflationary environment in which companies are operating and the resilience of staple demand.
The real swing factor, however, was finance costs. Net finance costs narrowed to N58.5 billion from N389.5 billion in 2024, when the company was hit by hefty foreign-exchange losses following naira devaluations. Finance income rose to N42.4 billion, while finance costs fell sharply to N101.0 billion from N392.8 billion the previous year.
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That easing reflects a more stable currency environment and a reduction in the balance-sheet stress that defined 2024 for many multinationals operating in Nigeria.
Investors have already priced in much of the recovery. The stock closed 2025 at N1,958 per share, more than double the N875 recorded at the end of 2024, pushing market capitalisation to about N1.55 trillion. That valuation currently stands at N2.46 trillion, with its shares gaining 58 percent to close trading on Wednesday at N3,100 per share.
That rally reflects renewed confidence that the worst of the FX shock is over and that earnings volatility is expected to moderate if currency stability holds.
