Three Years After Naira Devaluation, Nigerian Firms Recover Profits

Three years after Nigeria’s historic naira devaluation, the country’s largest listed companies have not only recovered the dollar value of profits lost but have collectively surpassed pre-devaluation earnings.

A review of 28 major listed companies across Consumer Goods, Industrials, Telecoms, and Energy sectors shows that combined profit before tax (PBT) rose to $4.4 billion in 2025, exceeding the $3.8 billion recorded in 2022 before the naira was floated.

Despite this rebound, analysts caution that the recovery is uneven, as households continue to face rising living costs, stagnant wages, and weakened purchasing power. The contrast between corporate profitability and household welfare highlights the incomplete nature of Nigeria’s post-reform economic recovery.

What the Data is Saying

Corporate earnings have reversed sharply from the post-devaluation slump when the naira’s depreciation erased dollar-denominated profits.

• Combined turnover for the 28 companies fell from $23.8 billion in 2022 to $14.7 billion in 2024, before partially recovering to $20.5 billion in 2025.
• PBT collapsed from $3.8 billion in 2022 to $625 million in 2023, then rebounded to $4.4 billion in 2025—a 17% increase over pre-devaluation levels.

Losses during 2023 and 2024 were mainly due to currency translation effects and FX revaluation losses on foreign-currency liabilities. The recovery relied on stronger pricing power, expanded margins, and a more stable exchange rate, rather than volume growth.

Companies most exposed to foreign obligations experienced the deepest losses but staged significant recoveries. Examples include:

• MTN Nigeria: From $1.18 billion profit in 2022 to -$198 million in 2023, -$359 million in 2024, and back to $1.17 billion in 2025.
• Nigerian Breweries: Returned to a $111 million profit in 2025 after two years of nine-figure losses.
• Nestlé Nigeria: Recovered to $115 million profit in 2025 following losses in 2023 and 2024.
• Dangote Sugar: Remains in the red with a $50 million loss in 2025.

Other notable recoveries include Dangote Cement ($1.05 billion PBT), Lafarge Africa ($283 million), BUA Foods ($358 million), BUA Cement ($320 million), and Seplat ($519 million). Currency stabilization, from N1,535 per dollar at the end of 2024 to around N1,455 by the end of 2025, also supported the rebound.

More Insights

Analysts warn that reported profits do not capture the full economic reality. Companies have rebuilt balance sheets but continue to rely on working capital, sometimes borrowing aggressively to fund operations.

Pricing strategies that boosted corporate earnings have increased financial pressure on households. Consumers face higher costs for goods and services while wages lag behind inflation.

Expert Views: Is the Recovery Sustainable?

Blakey Ijezie, founder of Okwudili Ijezie & Co. highlighted the widening gap between corporate profits and household welfare:

• Cement prices rose from N1,500 in 2015 to over N11,000 today.
• Fuel costs increased from under N200 per litre to over N1,000.
• Minimum wage grew from N30,000 to N70,000, yet living costs have quadrupled.

Ijezie notes that stock market gains cannot be taken as a measure of broad economic wellbeing.

Dr. Muda Yusuf, CEO of CPPE, offered a more balanced view. Improved macroeconomic conditions have made corporate profitability possible, but household conditions remain a limiting factor. Without targeted interventions in food, transportation, education, and healthcare, weak consumer demand may eventually slow corporate growth.

Yusuf argues that part of fiscal gains should be redirected to ease the social costs borne by households, ensuring corporate growth translates into broader economic benefits.

What You Should Know

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s flexible exchange rate regime, introduced in 2023, addressed years of FX distortions, multiple exchange windows, and shortages. The naira moved from ~N460 per dollar at the end of 2022 to N1,535 by the end of 2024.

Portfolio inflows have improved, but foreign direct investment (FDI) remains weak, limiting long-term capacity expansion, job creation, and income growth.

Corporate profits have largely rebounded in dollar terms. Household purchasing power, however, has not kept pace. Analysts say Nigeria’s economic recovery is real but incomplete, and broad-based improvement requires deliberate policies targeting income growth and cost-of-living pressures.