Business
Nigerian Breweries at 80: Resilient, shaping the future
Nigerian Breweries 2025 financial rebound sees profit surge and revenue growth ahead of its 80th anniversary milestone
As Nigerian Breweries Plc prepares to mark its 80th anniversary in November, 2026, the company stands as a powerful symbol of endurance and adaptation in a challenging business environment.
Also read: Nigerian Breweries Revenue Surges 35% to N1.467tn in 2024
Founded in 1946 as Nigeria’s first brewery, Nigerian Breweries has not only survived decades of economic shifts but has emerged stronger from recent turbulence, posting a remarkable financial rebound in 2025 while reaffirming its commitment to long-term growth.
At the Pre-Annual General Meeting media briefing held on 16 April 2026 at the Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, top executives painted a picture of cautious optimism.
Thibaut Boidin, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, captured the mood when he declared that while many companies exited Nigeria amid the economic crisis resulting in uncertainty, Nigerian Breweries chose to stay.
“We stayed while many companies left,” he told media representatives, underscoring the firm’s deep-rooted belief in the Nigerian market and its people.
The past year tested the company severely, yet it also revealed its underlying strengths. Dr. Uzodinma Odenigbo, Corporate Affairs Director, described 2025 as a period that “tested the company but also brought out the best in us.”
With the 80th anniversary milestone approaching, he noted it offered a perfect moment to reflect on company’s rich legacy of innovation and its enduring contribution to Nigeria’s economy and culture.
In the beginning
As Nigeria’s oldest and largest brewing company, Nigerian Breweries has been fully involved in brewing Nigeria’s spirit of greatness, shaping taste, industry and national identity.
Since the first bottle of Star lager beer rolled off the line in June1949 at the company’s Iganmu’s plant, the brand became a cultural staple, and moved quickly from Lagos bars to other cities, signifying optimism for a bright future.
Over a period of eight decades, that “future” has been evolving with the company becoming a powerhouse of successful brands built to last, and mapping Nigeria’s regional diversity and changing consumer tastes.
With nine breweries and a malting plant, distribution of their products reaches every state in the country, and the company employs over 2,000 Nigerians directly.
Culture, Friendship in Every Bottle
Nigerian Breweries has mirrored the lifestyles of Nigerians, and tapped into the cultural nuances of its consumers who are engaged at various experiential touchpoints.
The overarching strategy lies in humanising its various brands, using mainly sports and entertainment platforms.
Star lager beer (Shine Shine Bobo) sponsored the first Nigerian football league in the 1960s, and has backed music through Star Quest, Star Trek, and Star Mega Jam.
Gulder Ultimate Search and Maltina Dance All highlighted cultural authenticity by telling Nigerian stories, and ignited a pop-culture phenomenon that was difficult to ignore.
These are just a few examples of the iconic brand activations by the company to engage consumers on an ongoing basis.
Brewing Economic Impact
When we talk of attracting foreign investments into Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries Plc which was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1973, has become a bellwether for investments in the country.
Over the decades, Nigerian Breweries has paid billions in taxes, and supported over 500,000 sorghum and cassava farmers through its local sourcing programme.
Ancillary industries in glass, packaging, and logistics have also benefited from the brewing giant in a long-standing commercial relationship.
The shift to local raw materials tells its own 80-year story. In the 1980s, when FX scarcity forced import bans,
Nigerian Breweries pioneered sorghum brewing and helped commercialise cassava use in beer and malt drinks.
Today, the bulk of its raw materials are sourced locally, signaling its support for the Nigerian agriculture sector and reducing exposure to currency shocks.
Navigating Storms
Nigerian Breweries has weathered a civil war, FX crises, import bans, multiple recessions, and most recently, the 2023 – 2024 naira devaluation and inflation spike that hit consumer goods really hard.
The company posted losses in 2023, and in Q1, Q2, Q3 of 2024 as input costs surged, but returned to profitability in Q4 of 2024 through pricing, cost optimisation, and a N600 billion naira rights issue to cut FX debt.
The survival playbook of the company enabled a positive rebound in 2025.
2025 Financial Results
Financial results for the year ended 31 December 2025 confirmed the turnaround. Group revenue climbed 35 percent to a record 1.47 trillion naira, up from 1.08 trillion naira in 2024, despite persistent high inflation and constrained consumer spending.
Operating profit surged 194 percent to 205.2 billion naira, while the company recorded a net profit of 99.1 billion naira, reversing a loss of nearly 145 billion naira the previous year.
This recovery was aided by an 83 percent reduction in net finance costs, thanks largely to the successful 2024 Rights Issue that strengthened the balance sheet and reduced exposure to foreign currency volatility.
At the pre-AGM media briefing, Boidin credited the strong performance to disciplined execution across several fronts: operational efficiencies, productivity improvements, cost management, and an enthusiastic team.
“Our brands are going stronger,” he said, highlighting the resilience of the portfolio, particularly the premium Heineken brand.
He described Nigerian Breweries’ portfolio as Nigeria’s highest quality and most resilient, noting that the company continues to recruit consumers into its ecosystem rather than merely selling to them.
The recovery, he added, was achieved not in isolation but through close collaboration with the entire value chain and ecosystem of partners.
Maria Karaseva, Finance Director, echoed this sentiment. “2025 was really a successful year for the company,” she stated.
Both she and Boidin emphasised that the company has learned valuable lessons from the crisis and now possesses greater capabilities to face future challenges.
“We have emerged from this crisis very strong,” Boidin added.
Yet the leadership team remained measured in its outlook. Retained earnings stayed negative due to accumulated losses from prior years, so no dividend was declared or proposed for 2025.
“It is a very strong recovery but we are not out of the woods yet,” Boidin cautioned.
He identified two persistent pressure points: the purchasing power of consumers and the impact of government policies.
A stable operating environment, he noted, remains crucial for effective planning.
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, the focus is clearly on growth. Boidin described the coming year as “a year of growth” that is fully supported by a great team.
“Nothing is possible if you do not have the best team,” he said. “In this industry, you cannot find a better team than the one we have at Nigerian Breweries. Our people are our greatest asset.”
New external uncertainties, including the crisis in the Middle East, have already emerged, but the leadership team expressed confidence in company’s ability to navigate them. “We strongly believe that we will come out strong,” Boidin affirmed.
The Future
Since 1946, Nigerian Breweries has long been more than a beverage producer. It has shaped social moments, supported communities, and contributed significantly to employment and economic development across the country. Its staying power lies in its ability to give consumers market-fit brands that evolves and outlives trends.
Part of the global Heineken Group, the company maintains a premium portfolio that spans beers, stouts, malt drinks, and, following the full integration of Distell operations, an expanded range of wines, spirits, and ciders is now available.
This evolution positions Nigerian Breweries as a total beverage company ready for the next chapter as it embodies resilience forged through eight decades of operations.
Nigerian Breweries continues to invest in innovation, sustainability, and its people while adapting to an ever-changing economic landscape.
Boidin summed up the forward-looking spirit: the firm is focused on immediate actions to drive volume growth, sustain financial health, and leverage its scale and capacity.
In doing so, Nigerian Breweries is not merely celebrating 80 years of history but actively shaping the future of Nigeria’s beverage industry and, by extension, contributing to the broader narrative of economic resilience.
For a company that chose to stay when others departed, the journey ahead promises continued relevance, stronger brands, and renewed growth.
Also read: Nigerian Power Generation Companies Report N6 Trillion in Unpaid Electricity Bills
Clearly, Nigerian Breweries has become woven into our cultural fabric which explains why it is difficult for people to imagine life without it – whether it’s the beer at a wedding, the tax in the budget, or the factory in their town.
The Dangote Group is pursuing a $45bn investment programme across its businesses as it targets annual revenue of $100bn by 2030, with Dangote Cement expected to play a major role in funding the conglomerate’s next phase of expansion.
The group’s expansion strategy covers cement, refining, fertiliser, gas, infrastructure and other industrial businesses as it seeks to increase production capacity and strengthen its presence across African markets.
Dangote Cement, described as the group’s largest cash-generating business, is targeting an increase in annual production capacity from its current 55 million tonnes to more than 80 million tonnes as part of the growth programme.
The cement company said its expansion strategy would rely substantially on internally generated cash, reflecting the strength of its existing operations and cash-generating capacity.
In the 12 months to June 2026, Dangote Cement recorded revenue of $3.1bn, representing a 22 per cent year-on-year increase. Its cash conversion stood at 89 per cent, while return on capital employed reached 68 per cent during the period.
The company’s financial performance has also remained strong in naira terms. For the first half of 2026, Dangote Cement reported profit before tax of N981.39bn, up 34.43 per cent from N730.03bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2025. Profit after tax rose 22.69 per cent to N638.53bn.
The group’s wider investment plan is expected to include further expansion of the Dangote Refinery, with its capacity targeted to rise towards 1.4 million barrels per day. The company is also pursuing gas and LNG projects and additional industrial investments across Africa.
Dangote Cement’s expansion includes projects such as the proposed six-million-tonne-per-year plant at Itori in Ogun State, which is expected to strengthen the company’s production base as demand for cement and construction materials grows across the continent.
The group is also increasingly positioning its businesses around export earnings and geographically diversified operations. Management expects a larger share of revenue to be generated in foreign currency as its African expansion gathers pace.
The scale of the investment programme is underpinned by the group’s broader Vision 2030 strategy, which includes a target of more than $30bn in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation by 2030 alongside the $100bn revenue objective.
For Dangote Cement, the strategy represents a combination of capacity expansion and financial discipline, with strong operating cash flows expected to support investment while maintaining the company’s balance-sheet strength.
The wider Dangote Group is therefore positioning its 2030 strategy around expanding industrial capacity, increasing exports and using the cash generated by established businesses to finance further growth across Africa.
The Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCITMA) has dismissed allegations that it appropriated the Niger Delta Economic & Investment Summit (NDEIS) brand, insisting it lawfully obtained trademark acceptance for the name and will proceed with its 2026 summit as scheduled.
In a statement issued on September 12, 2026, the chamber described claims by Kunle Nwiwa Junior as “cheap blackmail, misleading, mischievous and a misrepresentation of the facts,” maintaining that it independently developed the summit and followed all required regulatory procedures.
According to NDCCITMA, it applied for and received a Trademark Acceptance Letter for the name Niger Delta Economic & Investment Summit (NDEIS) in August 2025 under File No. NG/TM/O/2025/387284.
The chamber said the chronology of events contradicts allegations that it copied another party’s application, arguing that its trademark acceptance predated the period during which Nwiwa’s own application was reportedly still pending before the relevant authorities.
“Economic Summit” is a generic expression
NDCCITMA further argued that the phrase “Economic Summit” is a generic description widely used for conferences that bring together governments, investors, businesses, development institutions and other stakeholders to discuss investment and economic development.
The chamber maintained that while concepts may be widely used, legal protection only arises from recognised intellectual property rights, including duly registered trademarks and other enforceable proprietary interests.
It therefore rejected suggestions that any individual or organisation has exclusive ownership of the broader concept of an economic summit.
Court grants interim injunction
Addressing reports that the summit had been halted, NDCCITMA said the dispute is already before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt and that there is no court order restraining the event.
The chamber disclosed that in Suit No. FHC/PHC/CS/57/2026, Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam granted an interim injunction restraining the defendants—Kunle Nwiwa Junior and Keneva Consult Ltd.—from interfering with the planned summit.
According to NDCCITMA, the court also directed the defendants to remove publications, notices, petitions, social media posts and other statements allegedly considered damaging to the chamber’s name, integrity and reputation pending the hearing of its motion for interlocutory injunction.
The matter has been adjourned until September 22, 2026 for further hearing.
Chamber rejects ₦500 million demand claim
NDCCITMA also alleged that it had received a demand from Nwiwa Junior requesting ₦500 million as a condition for abandoning his claims over the summit.
The chamber said the demand was rejected, adding that it subsequently petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over what it described as repeated harassment and threats directed at its officials.
It said the petition sought police intervention, including inviting the complainant for questioning and caution where necessary.
Summit opens September 15
Despite the legal dispute, NDCCITMA reaffirmed that the 2026 Niger Delta Economic & Investment Summit will hold from September 15 to 17, 2026, at the Obi Wali Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The summit will be held under the theme “Driving Investment, Innovation & Industrial Growth in the Niger Delta” and is expected to bring together policymakers, investors, business leaders, development partners and industry stakeholders to discuss economic transformation across the region.
The chamber said it remains committed to promoting commerce, industry, trade, mining, agriculture and sustainable economic development throughout the Niger Delta while allowing the courts to determine all outstanding legal issues.
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