Unilever Nigeria Plc recorded a sharp rebound in profitability in the 2025 financial year with profit after tax rising by 103 percent to ₦30.7 billion on the back of robust revenue growth and operating margin expansion.
The consumer goods company reported revenue of ₦214.7 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared with ₦149.5 billion in the prior year.
The increase was driven by price adjustments, improved product mix, and gradual volume recovery across key categories amid persistent inflationary pressures in the Nigerian economy.
Cost of sales rose to ₦125.0 billion from ₦94.4 billion, but the pace of increase lagged revenue growth, allowing gross profit to expand significantly to ₦89.6 billion from ₦55.1 billion.
As a result, gross margin strengthened to approximately 42 percent, up from about 37 percent in 2024, underscoring improved pricing discipline and cost management.
Operating profit more than doubled to ₦42.7 billion, compared with ₦18.4 billion in the previous year. This performance was supported by tighter control of operating expenses relative to revenue growth, as well as a reversal of impairment charges on trade and other receivables.
The company recorded an impairment write-back of ₦1.1 billion in 2025, compared with an impairment charge of ₦1.7 billion in 2024, reflecting improved receivables quality and stronger cash collection.
Selling and distribution expenses rose marginally to ₦6.7 billion from ₦6.2 billion, while marketing and administrative expenses increased to ₦42.4 billion, broadly in line with the scale of operations. Despite higher operating costs, operating margin expanded to nearly 20 percent, up from about 12 percent a year earlier.
Finance income also contributed meaningfully to earnings growth. Finance income increased to ₦10.3 billion from ₦6.8 billion, while finance costs declined sharply to ₦1.2 billion from ₦2.5 billion.
This resulted in net finance income of ₦9.1 billion, more than double the ₦4.3 billion recorded in 2024, highlighting the company’s strengthened balance sheet and lower reliance on borrowings.
Profit before tax rose to ₦51.8 billion, up from ₦22.6 billion in the prior year. Taxation increased significantly to ₦21.1 billion, resulting in an effective tax rate of about 41 percent, compared with 33 percent in 2024.
Despite the higher tax burden, net profit still more than doubled, reflecting the strength of underlying earnings.
Earnings per share rose to ₦5.35, from ₦2.64 in the previous year, reinforcing the company’s improved earnings capacity and strengthening its dividend outlook.
Unilever Nigeria also reported positive other comprehensive income of ₦204.9 million, reversing a loss recorded in the prior year.
This was driven by favorable remeasurement of post-employment benefit obligations. Total comprehensive income for the year stood at ₦30.9 billion, compared with ₦14.9 billion in 2024.
Fourth-quarter performance capped the strong full-year result, with profit for the three months ended December 31, 2025 rising to ₦8.8 billion from ₦4.9 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, indicating sustained momentum into year-end.