BUA Cement paid its owners more than it earned
The company had an outstanding half year — revenue up 26%, profit up 80%, costs barely moving. Then it handed shareholders ₦338.6bn, which was ₦13.8bn more than it made. Here is what the filing says about why.
| Revenue | ₦728.9bn |
| Dividend Paid | ₦338.6bn |
| Net debt | ₦359.6bn |
Five things you need to know
- Revenue reached ₦728.9bn for the six months, up 25.6%, while the cost of making the cement rose just 2.7%.
- Profit after tax was ₦324.9bn, up 79.6% on the same half last year.
- The company paid shareholders ₦338.6bn — ₦13.8bn more than it earned in the period.
- It drew down ₦233.3bn of new bank loans in the same six months, taking total borrowings to ₦620.3bn.
- Only 2.31% of the company can be bought on the exchange. The chairman and BUA Industries hold 95.78%.
What the company earned, and what it paid out
The gap is ₦13.8bn. That is exactly the amount by which the company's total equity shrank over the half, from ₦672.9bn to ₦659.1bn — a profitable company that ended the period worth less than it started.
Statement of changes in equity, page 10 of the filing.
So was this a good half year or a bad one?
Operationally, it was one of the best halves any Nigerian manufacturer has posted. Revenue reached ₦728.9bn against ₦580.3bn a year earlier. More striking is what it cost to produce: making the cement cost ₦301.9bn, up only 2.7%, while sales rose 25.6%.
That gap is the whole story of the operating year. Energy — the largest single cost in cement — rose from ₦127.4bn to ₦135.4bn, about 6%. When your biggest input rises 6% and your revenue rises 26%, your expands sharply. BUA's went from 49.3% to 58.6%.
Profit after tax came to ₦324.9bn, up from ₦180.9bn. Earnings per share nearly doubled, from 534 kobo to 959 kobo.
Then why is the company worth less than it was in January?
Because it paid out more than it made. The dividend was ₦338.6bn. The profit was ₦324.9bn. The difference came out of accumulated reserves, so shareholders' equity fell from ₦672.9bn to ₦659.1bn.
The payout was 4.9 times the ₦69.4bn BUA Cement distributed across the whole of 2025. In the first half of 2025 it paid nothing at all.
In the same six months, the company drew down ₦233.3bn of new bank loans.
A company can pay a dividend larger than one period's profit if it has accumulated profits from earlier years, and BUA did — retained income stood at ₦462.3bn in January. The filing describes the payment as coming from capital profits.
What it does not explain is the timing. Borrowing ₦233.3bn while distributing ₦338.6bn means the cash for one decision and the cash for the other moved through the business in the same half. Whether the loans funded expansion and the dividend came from trading cash, or the two are more closely linked, is not something the filing tells you.
Rainingmoney's reading. The company published no commentary explaining the size or timing of the distribution.
Where did every ₦100 of revenue actually go?
Derived from the statement of profit or loss, page 8, and cost notes on pages 13 to 15. Bars are scaled to ₦50 so the smaller lines stay readable. A ₦2.27 currency gain and ₦0.07 of other income are not shown as separate rows.
What changed since last year?
Bulk cement went from a rounding error to a real business
Sales of bulk cement were ₦236m in the first half of 2025. This half they were ₦40.2bn — roughly 170 times larger. Bagged cement, still the bulk of the business at ₦688.8bn, grew a more ordinary 18.7%.
The company borrowed heavily
Total borrowings rose from ₦469.4bn to ₦620.3bn, with ₦233.3bn drawn down in the half, most of it through an IFC syndicated loan that grew from ₦297.0bn to ₦470.3bn. Against ₦303.6bn of cash, the company now carries roughly ₦359.6bn of net debt.
The tax bill it actually has to pay quadrupled
The reported tax charge was ₦59.6bn, an effective rate of 15.5% — barely changed from a year earlier. But that figure was softened by a ₦16.6bn deferred tax credit. The current tax provision, the part that becomes a real bill, was ₦76.1bn against ₦18.5bn. Income tax payable on the balance sheet rose from ₦29.2bn to ₦75.9bn.
What caught our attention
BUA Cement's share price ended the half at ₦340.20, against ₦95.40 a year earlier.
The portion of the company available to buy is 2.31%.
Abdul Samad Rabiu holds 56.03% directly and BUA Industries Limited holds 39.75%. Together with directors' holdings, 97.66% of the company is locked up. What trades on the exchange is 783.7 million units out of 33.9 billion.
That matters for how you read the price. A share price set by trading in one fortieth of a company moves further, in both directions, than the underlying business does. It is also why the dividend decision sits with a very small group of people.
One more thing the filing shows without comment. The tax note no longer carries education tax or a Police Trust Fund levy, and instead carries a of ₦9.5bn. The line items changed; the filing does not say why.
The Scorecard
Each label comes from a fixed rule applied the same way to every company we cover. Strong means the measure improved materially against the same period last year. Steady means it held. Watch means it moved against shareholders, or moved without explanation. We publish no single score out of 100, because these categories don't trade off against each other in any honest way.
Did you follow all that?
The company made ₦324.9bn and paid out ₦338.6bn. Where did the extra ₦13.8bn come from?
From profits kept back in earlier years. Retained income stood at ₦462.3bn in January and fell to ₦448.6bn by June. A company can legally pay out of accumulated reserves, but it means the payment was funded partly by the past rather than entirely by the present.
Revenue rose 25.6% but the cost of making the cement rose only 2.7%. Why does that matter so much?
Because almost all of that extra revenue drops through to profit. It is what took the gross margin from 49.3% to 58.6% and doubled earnings per share. Whether it continues depends on whether cement prices hold and energy costs stay flat — neither of which the company controls.
The effective tax rate was 15.5%, about the same as last year. Why is the tax situation still worth watching?
Because the reported rate was held down by a ₦16.6bn deferred tax credit — an accounting entry, not cash. The current tax provision, which becomes an actual bill, was ₦76.1bn against ₦18.5bn a year earlier, and the amount owed to tax authorities on the balance sheet more than doubled.
The Bottom Line
BUA Cement had an exceptional operating half. It sold more cement, at better prices, without its costs following — and kept ₦44.57 of every ₦100 it earned, against ₦25.40 at Dangote Cement over the same six months.
It then distributed more than the whole half's profit and borrowed ₦233.3bn. Shareholders were paid handsomely, and the company they own is worth slightly less than it was in January. Both of those sentences are true, and the filing explains neither.
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