Nestlé

A year after posting a ₦164.6 billion loss, one of the worst in its Nigerian history, Nestlé closed the 2025 books on a ₦105 billion profit instead. Revenue climbed 26% to a record ₦1.21 trillion, operating profit rose 34% to ₦225.4 billion, and the company's equity position, which had gone dangerously negative in 2024, swung back to a positive ₦12.9 billion. Managing Director Wassim Elhusseini credited a calmer naira and renewed operational efficiency, and the company used the breathing room to pay down $40 million in foreign exchange-denominated debt early.

Investors noticed well before the audited numbers arrived: Nestlé's share price more than doubled over 2025, closing the year at ₦1,958 after starting it at ₦875, and by early 2026 the stock was trading above ₦3,000, pushing market capitalisation past ₦2.4 trillion. Maggi and Milo remain the names most Nigerians would name first when asked what Nestlé makes, joined on shelves by Golden Morn, Cerelac, NAN, Nescafé, and Nestlé Pure Life water; export sales, still small relative to the domestic business but growing quickly, rose 56% in 2025 to ₦10.2 billion.

The company's Creating Shared Value strategy continues to underpin local sourcing programmes for grains and other raw materials, youth technical training schemes, and community projects tied into the agricultural economy the business depends on, including Nestlé for Healthier Kids and the Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria Project. There is still unfinished business on the balance sheet, however: even after the turnaround, negative retained earnings only shrank from ₦243.2 billion to ₦112.8 billion, and the company has not yet resumed dividend payments, with Elhusseini saying continued profitability should close that gap and clear the way for shareholders to get paid again.