Unilever Nigeria has reported a 20.1 percent increase in net profit for the nine months ending in September. This is compared to the same period in 2025. The company released these results on Friday.
The profit boost came mainly from stronger revenue, which grew to N184 billion from N155.4 billion last year. This increase was driven by higher sales in the company’s food sector.
The food division made up 66.9 percent of total sales, up from 61.1 percent a year ago. The personal care division contributed 23 percent, while beauty and wellbeing brought in 10.1 percent.
Unilever Nigeria sells popular brands like Lipton, Knorr, Close-Up, Vaseline, and Pears. During this period, 98 percent of revenue came from local sales, with the rest from exports.
The cost of sales as a percentage of revenue dropped to 53.6 percent, down from 58.8 percent. This improvement helped increase gross profit.
However, marketing and administrative costs jumped by 36.6 percent to N40.3 billion due to higher spending on brand promotion.
The company also cut down on its impairment write-back on trade and other receivables, reducing it to N43.1 million from N834.9 million. This helped ease the pressure on operating profit.
Other income grew by 166.2 percent to N651.7 million. This increase was due to higher fees from producing tea for Lipton and earnings from a promissory note issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Profit before tax rose by more than one-fifth to N45.6 billion. Profit after tax increased to N26.4 billion, up from N22 billion last year.
Despite these gains, total assets dipped slightly by 0.4 percent to N179.4 billion, mainly due to lower cash and cash equivalents.
On Friday, the company also announced an interim dividend of N2 per share. This is four times the N0.50 per share it paid for the first half of 2025. The total payout for this dividend is expected to be N11.5 billion.
Unilever Nigeria said, "On Wednesday, 18 November 2026, dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at Friday, 30 October 2026 and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their Bank accounts."
Earlier in March, Unilever Plc, the parent company, announced a deal to merge its global foods business with McCormick & Company, Inc. This is pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
The merger aims to create a larger company focused on flavours and food products.
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