Dangote Sugar's revenue fell. Its profit came back anyway.
A year ago the company lost ₦24.3bn in six months. This half it made ₦41.5bn, on less revenue. The reason is the cost of raw sugar - and underneath the recovery, a balance sheet that still needs watching.
| Profit after tax | ₦41.5bn |
| Revenue | ₦391.9bn |
| Short-term gap | ₦462.8bn |
Five things you need to know
- Revenue fell 8.9% to ₦391.9bn, yet the company swung from a ₦24.3bn loss to a ₦41.5bn profit.
- Raw sugar is why. It took ₦59.52 of every ₦100 of sales this half, against ₦73.92 a year earlier.
- Over a quarter of pre-tax profit came from an ₦11.8bn currency gain rather than from selling sugar.
- The company swapped expensive short-term debt for bank loans, cutting total financial liabilities by ₦141.2bn.
- Its equity of ₦170.6bn rests on a ₦306.5bn revaluation of its plant. Without it, equity would be negative.
What raw sugar cost, out of every ₦100 of sales
That ₦14.40 fall is most of the turnaround. Other production costs rose ₦2.47 per ₦100, so the net improvement in gross margin was about ₦11.94 — enough to take the company from losing money to making it.
Derived from the cost of sales note, page 20, and revenue, page 2 of the filing.
So is Dangote Sugar healthy again?
The trading business is. Revenue came in at ₦391.9bn, down from ₦430.2bn, so the company earned less from selling sugar than a year ago. But what it paid for that sugar fell much faster. Raw materials cost ₦233.2bn against ₦318.0bn — down 26.7%.
When your biggest input falls faster than your sales, your widens. Dangote Sugar's doubled, from 12.0% to 24.0%. Gross profit went from ₦51.7bn to ₦93.9bn.
Profit after tax was ₦41.5bn. A year earlier the company lost ₦24.3bn over the same six months, and it lost ₦64.1bn across the whole of 2025.
How much of that profit came from selling sugar?
Most, but not all. Buried in other income is an ₦11.8bn exchange gain. Pre-tax profit was ₦44.1bn, so currency movement contributed just over a quarter of it.
Other income jumped from ₦245m to ₦12.1bn. Almost all of it — ₦11.8bn — is one line: exchange gain.
Dangote Sugar imports raw sugar and pays in foreign currency, often through letters of credit. When the naira strengthens, what it owes in naira terms shrinks, and that shows up as a gain. In 2025 the same exposure ran the other way and produced a ₦46.7bn exchange loss.
A gain like this is real money, but it depends on the exchange rate rather than on the business. Take it out and pre-tax profit would have been roughly ₦32.3bn — still a turnaround, just a smaller one.
Rainingmoney's reading. The filing reports the gain but offers no commentary on how much of the recovery it represents.
Where did every ₦100 of revenue actually go?
Derived from the statement of profit or loss, page 2, and cost notes on pages 20 to 21. Bars are scaled to ₦60. Other income of ₦3.10 per ₦100 and a ₦0.11 fair-value loss on growing cane are not shown as rows.
What changed since last year?
It swapped one kind of debt for another
Commercial paper — short-term borrowing sold to investors — fell from ₦221.7bn to ₦43.0bn. Letters of credit fell from ₦355.1bn to ₦205.9bn. Bank loans went the other way, from ₦117.0bn to ₦332.3bn, after ₦362.3bn of new borrowing in the half. Total financial liabilities came down from ₦725.3bn to ₦584.1bn.
It is paying suppliers more slowly
Trade payables doubled, from ₦40.5bn to ₦81.0bn. That added ₦54.5bn to operating cash flow. Cash from operations was ₦184.5bn — a genuine swing from an outflow of ₦23.2bn a year earlier — but part of it is money that is owed, not money that was earned.
Cash on hand fell sharply
The balance sheet shows ₦29.2bn of cash, down from ₦52.6bn in December and ₦147.8bn a year ago. The cash went into repaying commercial paper and letters of credit.
What caught our attention
Shareholders' equity rose to ₦170.6bn, up from ₦129.1bn in December.
That equity has three parts. Share capital and premium are ₦12.4bn. Accumulated losses are −₦148.2bn. And a of ₦306.5bn, created when the company switched to valuing its plant at fair value in December 2024.
Take the revaluation away and equity would be roughly −₦135.9bn. The company's positive net worth exists because its assets were marked up, not because it has built up profits.
The same weakness shows in the short term. Current liabilities are ₦738.5bn against current assets of ₦275.7bn — a gap of ₦462.8bn. Almost all financial liabilities are classed as due within a year.
Two smaller details stand out. The other-assets note carries a ₦729.8m prepaid cost, which suggests a share offer to existing shareholders is being prepared. And one customer accounts for 29.06% of revenue — ₦58bn in the second quarter alone.
Finally, the filing is untidy in ways worth knowing. The statement of changes in equity shows a revaluation surplus and retained-earnings split that don't match the balance sheet, though the total equity figure agrees. And the borrowings note says ₦150.4bn of bank loans is long-term, while the balance sheet classes every naira of financial liabilities as current. We have used the balance sheet figures throughout.
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?
Revenue fell 8.9%. How did Dangote Sugar go from a loss to a profit?
Raw sugar got much cheaper. It cost ₦59.52 of every ₦100 of sales this half, against ₦73.92 a year earlier. Because that is by far the biggest cost, a fall of that size doubled the gross margin even while revenue shrank.
Cash from operations was ₦184.5bn. Why isn't that all good news?
Because ₦54.5bn of it came from paying suppliers more slowly — trade payables doubled to ₦81.0bn. That cash has to go back out eventually. The operating improvement is real, but some of the inflow is borrowed from suppliers rather than earned.
Equity is ₦170.6bn. Why do we say it would be negative without one line?
Because ₦306.5bn of it is a revaluation surplus from marking up the plant in December 2024. Against that, accumulated losses are ₦148.2bn. Remove the revaluation and the remaining equity is about −₦135.9bn. The net worth comes from what the assets are judged to be worth, not from profits built up over time.
The Bottom Line
Dangote Sugar is making money again, and the reason is clear: raw sugar got cheaper, the naira helped, and the company replaced its most expensive short-term debt. After a ₦64.1bn loss in 2025, a ₦41.5bn half-year profit is a real recovery.
What the recovery has not yet done is repair the balance sheet. Losses still exceed everything shareholders ever put in, the short-term gap is ₦462.8bn, and a rights issue appears to be in preparation. The trading has turned. The foundations are still being rebuilt.
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