International Breweries Plc has released its unaudited H1 2026 results reporting recorded a pre-tax profit of N74.79 billion for the six months ended June 2026.

This represents 21.55% YoY increase from N61.53 billion reported in the same period of 2025.

The growth was supported by a decline in cost of sales and increase in finance income to N11.96 billion, which helped offset higher operating expenses and finance costs.

In the second quarter of 2026, the company reported a pre-tax profit of N34.48 billion, representing 30.30% increase compared with N26.46 billion in Q2 2025 and a 14.01% decline from the preceding quarter’s N40.12 billion.

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Key Highlights (H1 2026 vs H1 2025)

  • Revenue: N342.07 billion (Up 0.32% YoY from ₦340.99 billion)
  • Gross profit: N141.29 billion (Up 16.21% YoY from N121.58 billion)
  • Operating profit: N69.88 billion (Up 24.66% YoY from N56.05 billion)
  • Profit after tax: N38.31 billion (Down 7.21% YoY from N41.29 billion)
  • Earnings per share (EPS): N0.23 (Down 8.00% YoY from n0.25)
  • Total assets: N792.65 billion (Up 7.15% from N739.74 billion as at December 2025)
  • Cash and cash equivalents: N171.08 billion (Up 10.19% from N155.24 billion as at December 2025).

Driving the numbers

International Breweries’ first-half performance was supported mainly by improved cost efficiency rather than significant revenue growth and net finance income.

While revenue grew marginally to N342.07 billion, compared with N340.99 billion in the prior-year period, cost of sales, declined to N200.78 billion from N219.41 billion.

This lifted gross profit to N141.29 billion, while gross margin moved up to 41.3% from 35.7% in the prior-year period.

The improvement in production costs was reflected in lower materials consumed and allocated overheads, which declined to N159.12 billion from N185.54 billion.

However, operating expenses increased during the period, with administrative, marketing and distribution expenses rising to N70.52 billion from N59.27 billion in H1 2025

  • Within operating costs, advertising, promotion and distribution expenses increased to N42.56 billion from N35.25 billion, while depreciation and amortisation increased to N37.94 billion from N31.44 billion.

These higher costs partly moderated the impact of gross profit growth on operating earnings.

Also, foreign exchange movements remained a factor affecting profitability. Realised foreign exchange losses increased to N8.02 billion from N3.94 billion, although this was partly offset by an unrealised foreign exchange gain of N7.01 billion, compared with an unrealised loss of N2.98 billion in the prior-year period.

Finance income

Finance income increased to N11.96 billion from N9.37 billion, supported by higher interest income.

However, finance costs also increased to N7.05 billion from N3.90 billion, mainly due to higher interest expense on lease liabilities, which rose to N6.71 billion from N3.32 billion.

Balance sheet

The balance sheet grew by 7.15% to N792.65 billion as at June 2026, with property, plant and equipment and cash and cash equivalents accounting for the bulk of the asset base.

  • Property, plant and equipment stood at N360.70 billion, representing 46% of total assets, while cash and cash equivalents of N171.08 billion accounted for 22% of total assets.
  • The increase in property, plant and equipment suggests continued investment in operational capacity, while the higher cash balance points to improved liquidity strength during the period.

However, trade and other receivables increased significantly to N102.08 billion from N61.15 billion at December 2025, representing about 13% of total assets.

  • The rise indicates that more funds were tied up in customer balances during the period and remains an area to monitor from a working capital perspective.

On the liabilities side, total liabilities stood at N254.51 billion, largely driven by trade and other payables of N189.73 billion, which exceeded receivables and represented the largest liability item.

Total equity improved to N538.14 billion from N499.83 billion, supported by a reduction in retained losses following the company’s return to profitability.

Market reaction

International Breweries Plc closed trading on Friday, July 31, 2026, at N11.80 per share on the Nigerian Exchange, representing 2.07% decline from the previous closing price of N12.05.

The stock started the year at N14.00 per share and has recorded 15.71% YTD loss.

Insight

The most striking gap in this result is between pre-tax and after-tax performance: pre-tax profit rose 21.55%, yet profit after tax fell 7.21% YoY.

  • A sharply higher tax burden absorbed nearly all the operating gains, meaning shareholders saw none of the headline growth reflected in actual earnings as the tax line, decided the bottom line this quarter.
  • Beyond that, this is fundamentally a margin story; revenue was flat, and the entire pre-tax improvement came from cost control.
  • The margin swing from 35.7% to 41.3% in six months appears large for a brewer and likely reflects easing FX-driven input costs rather than structural repricing. Whether it holds through H2 is the key question.

Trade receivables also jumped sharply, suggesting International Breweries gave distributors more room to pay later in order to keep volumes moving.