Guinness Nigeria Plc reported a 53.1% rise in profit after tax to ₦40.69 billion for the nine months to 30 September 2026, in results filed with the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday 21 October. Revenue grew 20.4% to ₦403.33 billion. The board declared a further interim dividend of ₦7 a share on the same day.
Profit before tax rose 55.3% to ₦61.65 billion, and earnings per share reached ₦18.58 against ₦12.14 a year earlier. Revenue in the same period of 2025 was ₦335.07 billion. The swing is large for a brewer that booked a ₦61.7 billion nine-month loss in 2024, before Tolaram took majority control from Diageo.
Interest Bill Shrinks
Finance expenses fell 61.9% to ₦5.83 billion, with interest on loans and borrowings dropping to ₦5.61 billion from ₦14.66 billion. Finance costs took about 9% of operating profit, against about 29% a year earlier, which is why profit after tax grew more than twice as fast as revenue.
Girish Sharma, the managing director and chief executive, said revenue growth, higher operating earnings and lower finance costs produced the stronger bottom line, and described the operating environment as dynamic. That is the company’s own explanation, and the figures remain unaudited.
Costs Rise More Slowly
Gross profit rose 20.4% to ₦151.38 billion, and the gross margin held at about 37.5% because cost of sales grew in line with revenue. Operating profit climbed 23.4% to ₦64.98 billion, as marketing and distribution costs rose 18.4% to ₦62.91 billion and administrative costs rose 19.4% to ₦24.12 billion.
Third Quarter Drives Growth
Revenue rose 41% to ₦138.29 billion in the third quarter, after growth of almost 12% in the first half, so more than half of the nine-month gain arrived in the last three months. Domestic sales supplied ₦397.04 billion, or about 98% of revenue, and exports added ₦6.29 billion, up 23.9%.
Dividend Meets Thin Cash
The board approved the extra ₦7 dividend on 21 October, a payout of about ₦15.33 billion. Shareholders on the register on 30 October receive it on 13 November, which, with the earlier ₦2 and ₦7 interim dividends, takes interim dividends declared this year to ₦16 per ordinary share.
Cash on hand at 30 September was ₦1.40 billion, down 80% from ₦6.97 billion at the end of 2025, and overdrafts rose to ₦2.80 billion, so the new payout equals almost eleven times that balance. Inventories grew 43.3% to ₦65.65 billion, and total loans fell 13% to ₦38.21 billion, with about 77.5% of that classed as short-term.
