Guinness Nigeria recovers in 2025: May return to dividend in 2026

Guinness Nigeria Plc released its 18-month 2025 audited results, ending December 31, 2025, posting an impressive rebound.

The company posted a profit after tax of N41 billion, and earnings per share of N18.79, marking its first profit since 2023. Retained losses reduced to N5.218 billion from N46 billion in 2024.

Given its trend, this performance and expectation, the company is likely to exit the retained losses and probably return to dividend payment in 2026.

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Prior to 2023, Guinness was paying dividend: 46 kobo in 2021 and N7.34 in 2022.

Commenting on the results, the company stated:

• _“We are pleased to report Guinness Nigeria PLC’s eighteen-month results, which demonstrate resilience and unwavering focus, resulting in stellar financial performance despite the intense competitive landscape.” _

Indeed, Guinness Nigeria Plc has shown resilience, from losses in 2023 and 2024, the brewing giant returned to profitability in 2025

A cursory analysis shows that one of the major drivers of the rebound is the strong top-line performance.

• It reported 18-month revenue of N730.808 billion, which is about 78% of the company’s 5-year combined revenue.
• Gross profit was equally impressive at N240.5 billion, reflecting a strong gross profit margin of 31%.

Key ratios reflect the impact of the recovery.

• Operating profit is now more than 3.5 times its interest expenses.
• For every N1 in equity, the company now has N5 in assets compared to about N106 in 2024 due to the increase in shareholders’ funds to N43 billion from N2 billion as of December 2024.
• The significant growth in earnings per share pushed the trailing twelve months EPS to N18.9 3and also the 5-year growth rate to 89%.

At the current market price, investors are paying N18 for N1 earnings, the lowest compared to International Breweries and Nigerian Breweries.

This results in a low price-to-earnings ratio of 0.21, indicating that the stock may be undervalued relative to its earnings growth

**Outlook **

Revenue growth is expected to be sustained in 2016. Nigeria is still the Company’s primary geographical segment, as over 98% of the Company’s revenue is earned from sales in Nigeria.

Given the improvement in macroeconomic factors such as inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates, it is likely to continue to boost purchasing power.

Due to the improvement in macroeconomic variables, especially foreign exchange stability, the company reported zero foreign exchange loss in 2025 compared to the N92 billion loss in 2024.

**Caution **

Despite the impressive top-line growth trend, net profit margin has exceeded 15% at least since 2020.

• In the full year 2025, which ended June 30, 2025, in every N100 of revenue, the company retained just N3.50, lower than Nigerian Breweries N6.8 and International Breweries N10.2.

Although the profit margins improved in the subsequent two quarters (ending in September and December 2025), reaching 10.23% and 10.98% respectively, it is still low.

While this appears to be an industry-wide trend, given the low margins of its peers, the company’s performance still warrants a cautionary note.

Guinness Nigeria needs to improve its operational cost efficiency and reduce its interest expenses. With foreign exchange losses now behind it, the company must focus on optimizing its operations to enhance profitability.

In addition, Guinness Nigeria’s current ratio remains a headwind, standing at just 0.59. This indicates potential liquidity pressure, as the company’s current assets are not sufficient to cover its short-term liabilities.

This weak liquidity position could make it harder to meet immediate obligations without relying on external financing or altering its working capital management strategies.

**Bottomline **

A 9.8% surge following the release of its audited 2025 results on February 17, 2026, improving the YTD gain to 0.3%, suggests recovery, especially given the 398% YTD gain in 2025.

The potential for dividends in 2026 adds an exciting prospect for investors, which could further boost market confidence. Overall, Guinness Nigeria appears to be back.