… restores retained earnings to positive  

By Peter Egwuatu 

Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nigeria’s foremost brewing company, has announced a strong performance for the first half of the 2026, recording a group revenue of N804 billion, representing a 9% increase over the N738 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2025.

The company has also restored its retained earnings to a positive position, further strengthening its financial health and reinforcing the success of ongoing business recovery and value creation initiatives.

According to the results released on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, the breakdown of the unaudited result for the period ended June 30 2026 revealed that the company’s operating profit grew by 8% from N152 billion in 2025 to N164 billion, notwithstanding the increase in Selling, Distribution and Administration Expenses by 20%. A further improvement in the company’s net finance expenses contributed to an 18% growth in the Profit Before Tax. The implementation of the new tax rates moderated the growth in Profit After Tax to 5%, from N161 billion in the first half of 2025 to N193 billion in the current period.

In a statement signed by the company Secretary/Legal Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Uaboi Agbebaku, the company continued to demonstrate resilience despite a challenging operating environment marked by macroeconomic volatility.

Agbebaku explained that the increase in the group revenue reflects the benefit of revenue management actions and strategic management initiatives, emphasising sustained investment in strategic brands, focused execution across the value chain, and continued contribution from the premium brands and the malt category.  

“Gross profit margin expanded by 2 percentage points with results from operating activities increasing by 8%. Profit before tax went up by 18% supported by a 61% reduction in net finance expense. The impact of the new tax rates limited the group net profit growth to 5%”, he added.

By Yinka Kolawole  

Nigeria emerged as one of Africa’s strongest foreign investment performers in 2025, recording a 148 per cent increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows despite a sharp decline across the continent, according to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2026.

The report showed that global FDI rebounded by six per cent to $1.624 trillion in 2025 from $1.532 trillion in 2024, ending two consecutive years of decline. However, the recovery was uneven. While investment into developed economies rose by 11 per cent, FDI flows to Africa dropped by 26 per cent to $70 billion from $94 billion recorded in 2024.

Against this backdrop, Nigeria stood out as one of the continent’s best performers, with FDI inflows rising from $1.61 billion in 2024 to $4.01 billion in 2025. The increase placed Nigeria among Africa’s leading investment destinations, ahead of Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, although it still trailed Egypt, Guinea and Mozambique.

Despite the strong rebound, analysts noted that Nigeria’s performance was driven largely by major transactions in the oil, gas and energy sectors, rather than broad-based investments in manufacturing and other productive sectors.

Key deals included Renaissance Africa Energy’s acquisition of Shell’s onshore assets and Huaxin Cement’s purchase of Lafarge Africa. While these transactions boosted headline investment figures, they also underscored Nigeria’s continued dependence on hydrocarbons for attracting foreign capital.

Nigeria accounted for about 5.8 per cent of Africa’s total FDI in 2025 but attracted only about 0.25 per cent of global investment flows, highlighting the significant gap between the country’s economic potential and actual investment inflows.

Globally, developed economies led the recovery, attracting $723 billion in FDI. Europe recorded the strongest regional growth, with inflows rising 39 per cent to $285 billion, while developing Asia remained the largest destination among emerging markets, receiving $644 billion.

The report also showed that Brazil alone attracted about $77 billion in FDI—more than the entire African continent—while India received $39 billion, nearly ten times Nigeria’s total inflows.

Although Africa’s overall FDI declined in 2025, UNCTAD noted that the fall was partly due to the exceptionally large Ras El-Hekma investment deal recorded by Egypt in 2024, which had inflated the previous year’s figures. Even so, Africa’s 2025 inflow remained the continent’s third-highest on record and about one-third above its 2010-2024 average.

For Nigeria, the challenge now extends beyond attracting larger volumes of foreign investment to improving its quality and economic impact. Experts say sustained growth will depend on drawing more greenfield investments into manufacturing, technology, export-oriented industries and domestic supply chains.

They also argue that while recent reforms in the foreign exchange market, fiscal policy and the petroleum sector have improved investor confidence, longstanding structural constraints – including unreliable electricity, weak infrastructure, insecurity, logistics bottlenecks, high financing costs and regulatory uncertainty – must be addressed if Nigeria is to realise its full investment potential and become a preferred destination for long-term productive capital.

·Other lendings rise, lenders report low default rates

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

Credit for house purchase by households increased to 9.6 index points in the second quarter of 2026 (Q2’26),  indicating that Nigerians are intensively borrowing to purchase personal houses.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed this yesterday in its Credit Condition Survey Report for Q2’26 noting that  lenders indicated increasei n credit availability for secured, unsecured, and corporate lending during the period.

The apex bank also noted that lenders reported lower default rates in Q2’26.

“Respondents reported that credit demand increased to 15.1 index points for secured lending and 15.2 index points for corporate lending, while unsecured lending remained subdued at -1.2 index points.

“Consumer loans to households increased (11.2), credit for house purchase to households increased (9.6), lending for small businesses to households increased (26.4).

“Mortgage/re-mortgage lending from Households increased (13.3).”

On unsecured lending, CBN noted that overdraft/ personal loans to households increased to 7.9 index points but credit cards lending from households decreased to -2.0 index point.

On corporate lending, the apex bank mentioned that lending to small businesses,  Medium Private Non-Financial Corporations (PNFCs) and Large PNFCs increased to 26.5, 25.5 and 8.9 index points reapectively.

However, credit to Other Financial Corporations, OFCs , remained unchanged   at 0.0 index point. CBN added: “Lenders reported a decline in default rates across secured and unsecured lending, as well as across all corporate lending categories, including small businesses, Medium PNFCs, Large PNFCs, and OFCs.”