Guinness Nigeria Plc has released its unaudited third quarter (Q3) 2026 financial results, reporting a pre-tax profit of N61.65 billion for the nine months ended September 2026.
The results filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Wednesday, October 21, represents a 55.34% year-on-year (YoY) increase from N39.69 billion in the same period of 2025.
The growth was supported by a 20.37% rise in revenue and a 61.88% drop in finance expenses, which allowed more operating earnings to flow through to the bottom line.
In the third quarter of 2026, the company reported a pre-tax profit of N23.32 billion, a 46.99% increase from N15.86 billion in Q3 2025.
Profit after tax for the quarter rose 52.67% YoY to N15.39 billion, contributing about 37.8% of the nine-month profit after tax.
The board has declared an interim dividend of N7.00 per share, about N15.33 billion in total, on October 21, 2026.
The qualification date is October 30, with payment on November 13, 2026.
During the nine-month period, the company declared dividends of N19.71 billion and paid N19.27 billion.
Key Highlights (9M 2026 vs 9M 2025)
- Revenue: N403.33 billion (Up 20.37% YoY from N335.07 billion)
- Gross profit: N151.38 billion (Up 20.41% YoY from N125.72 billion)
- Operating profit: N64.98 billion (Up 23.45% YoY from N52.64 billion)
- Profit after tax: N40.69 billion (Up 53.05% YoY from N26.59 billion)
- Earnings per share (EPS): N18.58 (Up 53.05% YoY from N12.14)
- Total assets: N271.51 billion (Up 10.74% from N245.18 billion as at December 2025)
- Cash and cash equivalents: N1.40 billion (Down 79.95% from N6.97 billion as at December 2025)
Three-month performance
The Q3 2026 was stronger than the nine-month run rate with revenue rising 41.01% year-on-year to N138.29 billion, while gross profit grew 48.35% to N53.91 billion, faster than sales.
- Operating profit increased 42.34% to N23.46 billion.
- Finance expenses for the quarter fell 65.84% to N1.47 billion from N4.30 billion.
- Finance income, however, dropped 63.94% to N1.33 billion from N3.68 billion.
- Quarterly EPS stood at N7.03, up 52.83% from N4.60.
Driving the numbers:
Domestic sales generated N397.04 billion, about 98% of revenue, and accounted for most of the N68.26 billion increase.
- Export sales rose 23.85% to N6.29 billion.
- Cost of sales rose in line with revenue to N251.95 billion, leaving gross margin flat at 37.5%.
- Operating margin improved to 16.11% from 15.71%.
- Marketing and distribution expenses rose 18.38% to N62.91 billion.
- Administrative expenses increased 19.35% to N24.12 billion.
- Finance expenses fell to N5.83 billion from N15.30 billion, driven by a drop in interest on loans and borrowings to N5.61 billion from N14.66 billion.
- Finance costs absorbed about 9% of operating profit, compared with about 29% a year earlier.
Guinness repaid N90.29 billion in loans during the period against new borrowings of N83.28 billion, cutting total loans and borrowings by 13% to N38.21 billion. Short-term loans accounted for about 77.5% of the balance.
Balance sheet:
Total assets rose to N271.51 billion, while shareholders’ equity increased 48.42% to N64.30 billion.
- Total liabilities edged up 2.65% to N207.20 billion.
- However, inventories jumped 43.27% to N65.65 billion, with finished goods rising 144.5% to N17.50 billion.
- Trade and other payables, at N134.50 billion, made up 72.8% of current liabilities.
Bank overdrafts rose to N2.80 billion from N523.54 million, leaving net cash negative at N1.41 billion.
Market reaction:
The market has not responded to the result yet as the result was released at the close of business on Wednesday, October 21, 2026.
- The share price has traded flat at N423.00 per share since Monday, October 12.
- Guinness began the year with a share price of N349.90 and has since gained 20.9% on that price valuation, ranking it 69th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.
With 2.19 billion shares outstanding and a share price of N423 per share, the market capitalization stood at N927 billion as of October 21.