Nestlé Nigeria's profit rose 43%. Its business grew 8%.
The gap between those two numbers is the naira. A ₦32.1bn currency gain did more for Nestlé's half-year than any amount of Milo or Maggi — and then tax took nearly half of what was left.
| Revenue | ₦650.8bn |
| Profit after tax | ₦64.8bn |
| Cash and deposits | ₦5.6bn |
Five things you need to know
- Revenue rose 12% to ₦650.8bn, and profit after tax rose 28% to ₦64.8bn.
- But operating profit — what the business itself earned — rose only 8%.
- A ₦32.1bn gain on foreign-currency balances accounts for a quarter of pre-tax profit.
- Tax took 48.9% of pre-tax profit, up from 42.8%, under Nigeria's new tax law.
- The company ended June with ₦575m in its bank accounts, down from ₦30.4bn in December.
Two ways of measuring the same half year
Operating profit went from ₦130.4bn to ₦141.4bn. Pre-tax profit went from ₦88.4bn to ₦126.8bn. The difference sits below the operating line, in the finance section — and almost all of it is currency.
Statement of profit or loss, page 14 of the filing.
So how did Nestlé actually do?
Solidly. Revenue reached ₦650.8bn, up 12% from ₦581.1bn. Food — Maggi, Cerelac, Golden Morn — brought in ₦406.3bn, and Beverages, led by Milo and Nescafé, ₦244.5bn. Both grew.
Making the products cost ₦392.2bn, up 10%, slightly slower than sales. So the widened a little, from 38.7% to 39.7%.
Below that line it gets harder. Marketing and distribution costs rose 27% to ₦93.5bn, well ahead of sales. Consumer promotions alone went from ₦18.9bn to ₦29.7bn, and freight from ₦23.0bn to ₦31.6bn. That is why operating profit grew only 8% while revenue grew 12%.
Then where did the 43% come from?
From the naira.
Finance income was ₦33.3bn, against ₦1.1bn a year earlier — a thirtyfold rise.
Only ₦1.1bn of it is interest. The other ₦32.1bn is a gain on translating foreign-currency balances.
Nestlé Nigeria owes ₦445.0bn, most of it to companies inside the Nestlé group and much of it in foreign currency. When the naira strengthens, the naira value of that debt falls, and the reduction is booked as a gain. No cash changed hands.
Strip the ₦32.1bn out and pre-tax profit would have been about ₦94.6bn — a rise of roughly 7%, in line with the operating business rather than six times it.
The same mechanism runs in reverse when the naira weakens. It is what drove Nestlé Nigeria into negative equity in the first place.
Rainingmoney's reading. The filing discloses the gain and its source but does not quantify its share of the result.
Why is the tax bill nearly half the profit?
The tax charge was ₦62.0bn on pre-tax profit of ₦126.8bn — an of 48.9%. A year earlier it was 42.8%.
The filing states the applicable rate: 30% company income tax plus a 4% development levy, 34% in total, under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 which took effect on 1 January 2026. The company pays 48.9% because some of its costs cannot be deducted for tax — but the filing does not say which ones.
Where did every ₦100 of revenue actually go?
Derived from the statement of profit or loss, page 14, and cost notes on pages 22 to 23. Bars are scaled to ₦65. ₦0.10 of other income is not shown as a row.
What changed since last year?
The hole in the balance sheet is nearly closed
Eighteen months ago Nestlé Nigeria's equity was negative ₦92.3bn — it owed more than it owned. At the end of June it was positive ₦77.6bn, up from ₦12.9bn in December. Accumulated losses fell from ₦112.8bn to ₦48.0bn.
The bank account is nearly empty
Cash at bank fell from ₦30.4bn to ₦575m. Including treasury bills, total cash and deposits are ₦5.6bn against ₦35.4bn in December. The money went into import deposits, which rose from ₦2.5bn to ₦52.8bn, and into ₦54.5bn of interest payments.
Cash from operations fell by more than two-thirds
Operating cash was ₦58.0bn, against ₦187.6bn in the same half of 2025. Trading is healthier, but ₦46.1bn went into prepayments and ₦29.8bn into settling supplier balances, while tax payments almost doubled to ₦50.5bn.
What caught our attention
Interest paid in the half was ₦54.5bn.
Of that, ₦53.5bn went on an intercompany loan. Only ₦980m went to Nigerian banks.
Nestlé Nigeria is financed mainly by its own group rather than by outside lenders. Add the ₦23.2bn of licence fees for the Nestlé brands and technology, and the ₦10.8bn of shared service costs, and roughly ₦87.6bn left the Nigerian company for the group in six months.
These are ordinary arrangements for a subsidiary of a multinational, and the filing discloses each one. But for a Nigerian shareholder it is worth seeing the size: that sum is larger than the ₦64.8bn of profit the company reported.
Two further details. No dividend was declared for the half — the ₦15.3m shown as paid is unclaimed money from earlier years — against ₦91.0bn paid in the first half of 2025. And exports remain tiny: ₦9.7bn of the ₦650.8bn total, about 1.5%, with Ghana the largest destination.
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 rose 12% and pre-tax profit rose 43%. Why isn't that as good as it sounds?
Because ₦32.1bn of the increase is a currency gain on foreign-currency debt, not money earned from selling food. Operating profit — the business itself — rose 8%. Remove the currency gain and pre-tax profit rose about 7%.
The company made ₦64.8bn. Why does it have only ₦575m in the bank?
Profit is not cash. In the half, ₦50.5bn went out in tax, ₦54.5bn in interest, and import deposits rose from ₦2.5bn to ₦52.8bn — money paid upfront for goods not yet delivered. Cash and deposits including treasury bills stand at ₦5.6bn.
Who does Nestlé Nigeria owe money to?
Mostly its own group. Of ₦54.5bn of interest paid, ₦53.5bn was on an intercompany loan and under ₦1bn went to Nigerian banks. That is why the exchange rate moves its profit so violently — the debt is in foreign currency.
The Bottom Line
Nestlé Nigeria has almost finished repairing the damage the naira did to it. Equity is back above zero, accumulated losses are down to ₦48.0bn from ₦243.2bn at the start of 2025, and the brands still sell.
But this half's headline growth came from the same currency that broke the balance sheet, and it can reverse. Underneath, the business grew 8% while marketing spend grew 27% and tax took nearly half of what was earned. That is the number to watch next quarter, not the 43%.
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