Nigerian Breweries Plc announced a pretax profit of N80.4 billion for the first quarter of 2026, continuing its positive earnings trend. This represents a 14.89% increase compared to the N69.9 billion recorded in Q1 2025.

The growth was primarily fueled by a stronger revenue base. Revenue from brewed products reached N413.01 billion, an increase from N383.6 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, indicating sustained demand.

The company's cost of sales also rose in line with revenue, amounting to N233.1 billion, up from N217.06 billion in Q1 2025. This resulted in a gross profit of N179.8 billion, marking a 7.98% year-on-year increase from N166.5 billion.

Other income saw a significant rise of 22.39% to N923.3 million. However, after accounting for selling and distribution expenses of N73.7 billion, administrative costs of N17.7 billion, and credit losses of N1.9 billion, the operating profit settled at N87.3 billion, a slight increase from N85.2 billion in Q1 2025.

A notable factor contributing to the improved pretax profit was the reduction in net finance costs, which fell to N6.9 billion from N15.2 billion in the prior year's quarter. This helped boost pretax profit to N80.4 billion.

Following a tax expense of N24.4 billion, the post-tax profit stood at N55.9 billion, an improvement from N44.5 billion in Q1 2025. Consequently, earnings per share increased to N1.80 from N1.43.

On the balance sheet, total assets grew to N1.13 trillion from N1.06 trillion. Property, plant, and equipment remained the largest component of assets at N586.1 billion.

The company made significant progress in reducing its retained losses, which narrowed to N16.2 billion from N72.1 billion in Q1 2025. This improvement in retained losses contributed to a rise in total equity to N616.3 billion from N560.2 billion, bringing the company closer to a position that could support future dividend distributions.