Guinness, NASCON, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Sugar lead recovery, while Nestlé, International Breweries and Champion Breweries move against the trend.
Nigeria’s listed consumer goods companies are beginning to reap the financial benefits of the deleveraging drive that followed the naira’s sharp devaluation, with combined finance costs across seven major FMCG companies falling by ₦21 billion in the first half of 2026.
An analysis of the latest financial statements of Nestlé Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Guinness Nigeria, International Breweries and Champion Breweries shows that their combined gross finance costs declined 14.4 per cent to ₦124.94 billion in the six months ended June 2026, from ₦145.94 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
The decline extends a trend that became visible in the first quarter, as companies that accumulated significant foreign exchange-related obligations following the naira devaluation in 2023 and 2024 continue to restructure their balance sheets and reduce their debt burdens.
The improvement is significant because finance costs became one of the biggest threats to the profitability of Nigeria’s consumer goods companies after the currency crisis. Companies with dollar-linked obligations were hit by higher borrowing costs, foreign exchange losses and the sharp increase in the naira value of their liabilities.
Two years later, however, stronger operating cash flows and deliberate debt-reduction strategies are beginning to ease some of that pressure.
But the sector-wide decline hides an important divide.
While Guinness Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Sugar Refinery recorded double-digit reductions in finance costs, Nestlé Nigeria, International Breweries and Champion Breweries went in the opposite direction.
For one of them, the increase was more than eightfold.
Different companies, different debt strategies
The divergent performances reflect the different approaches companies have adopted to deal with the debt accumulated during the currency crisis.
Oluwakemi Abiodun, Senior Analyst, FMCG, at CardinalStone Securities, said the difference was largely a function of how individual companies were managing their balance sheets.
“The short way to summarise this is different companies, different debt strategies. The companies highlighted as having recorded lower finance costs have largely achieved this through a deliberate focus on reducing their debt balances,” Abiodun said.
Dangote Sugar Refinery provides perhaps the clearest example.
The company recently raised a rights issue specifically to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce leverage. Even though the proceeds had not yet been reflected in its balance sheet during the period under review, Abiodun said the company had already used cash generated from its operations to reduce existing debt.
“Dangote Sugar recently raised a rights issue specifically to deleverage, underscoring management’s commitment to reducing its debt burden. Even now that the proceeds from the rights issue haven’t been reflected in its balance sheet, the company used its strong operating cash flows to pay down existing debt in H1’26,” she said.
The brewing companies have also embarked on aggressive deleveraging.
“Similarly, the brewers, NB and Guinness, have both communicated clear strategies to materially reduce leverage, and we can see this play out in their recent debt numbers,” Abiodun said.
Nestlé Nigeria, however, has taken a different route.
“Nestlé, however, is taking a different approach, with a greater focus on servicing interest obligations and letters of credit, rather than prioritising a rapid reduction in its outstanding debt balance,” Abiodun said.
The distinction matters because a reduction in finance costs can come from two different sources: paying down debt or benefiting from changes in interest rates, foreign exchange movements and other financing conditions.
For most of the companies leading the sector's recovery, the evidence points strongly toward the first.
“The main reason is the focus on deleveraging, especially as operating performance is picking up and is stronger,” Abiodun said.
Nathanael Disu, an Investment Research Analyst, also linked the improvement to the sector’s recovery from the naira devaluation shock.
“The decline in finance cost can be linked to deleveraging of their debt obligations,” Disu said.
He added that stronger earnings had given companies more room to reduce their financial obligations.
“Most FMCG companies have recovered from the FX-induced bottom-line losses driven by improved macroeconomic dynamics; as such, they have better financial buffers to deleverage their debt obligations,” he said.
Guinness leads the recovery
Among the seven companies analysed, Guinness Nigeria recorded the sharpest improvement in finance costs.
Its gross finance expense fell 64.9 per cent, from ₦12.44 billion in the first half of 2025 to ₦4.36 billion in H1 2026.
At the same time, finance income jumped to ₦1.18 billion from ₦110.7 million.
The combined effect was dramatic: net finance cost fell 74.2 per cent, from ₦12.33 billion to ₦3.18 billion.
That improvement became a major contributor to Guinness Nigeria’s earnings performance.
The company’s pre-tax profit increased by 60.9 per cent, and the reduction in net finance costs contributed more to that improvement than the 14.8 per cent increase in operating profit.
In other words, Guinness was not only selling more or improving its operations; it was also keeping more of its operating gains by reducing the amount absorbed by financing costs.
NASCON: almost debt-free and earning from cash
NASCON Allied Industries presents a different picture.
The company carries almost no debt, with non-current borrowings of just ₦38.6 million. Finance costs have therefore never represented a major burden on the company's income statement.
Even so, finance costs fell 58.5 per cent, from ₦413.1 million to ₦171.6 million.
More strikingly, finance income more than doubled to ₦5.35 billion.
The result is that NASCON has moved into a net finance income position rather than carrying a net finance cost.
That position is supported by a cash-rich balance sheet. The company ended the period with cash and cash equivalents of ₦46.05 billion.
For NASCON, therefore, the story is no longer about escaping a debt problem. It is about having enough liquidity that investment income can outweigh the relatively small cost of its financing obligations.
Nigerian Breweries eliminates interest-bearing debt
Nigerian Breweries also recorded a major improvement.
Its finance costs fell 50.4 per cent to ₦10.16 billion from ₦20.51 billion.
The company's balance sheet provides perhaps the clearest evidence of the deleveraging strategy.
Interest-bearing loans and borrowings fell to zero from ₦59.71 billion at the end of December 2025.
The effect of the financial restructuring also became visible in shareholders’ funds.
Within six months, Nigerian Breweries moved from an accumulated deficit of ₦72.17 billion to retained earnings of ₦13.65 billion.
That is a dramatic improvement in a company whose balance sheet had been heavily affected by the combination of foreign exchange losses, borrowing costs and weak profitability during the naira crisis.
Dangote Sugar gets the biggest naira saving
Dangote Sugar Refinery recorded a 22.4 per cent decline in finance costs, from ₦64.97 billion to ₦50.42 billion.
Although the percentage reduction was smaller than those recorded by Guinness, NASCON and Nigerian Breweries, the company posted the largest absolute reduction in finance costs among the seven companies, saving approximately ₦14.55 billion.
The reduction came alongside a substantial improvement in the company's operating performance.
Gross margin almost doubled from 12 per cent to 23.9 per cent.
The combination of stronger margins and lower finance costs helped Dangote Sugar swing from a pre-tax loss of ₦22.11 billion in the first half of 2025 to a pre-tax profit of ₦44.09 billion in H1 2026.
The company's recently completed rights issue should provide another layer of support for its deleveraging strategy once the proceeds are fully reflected in the balance sheet.
Nestlé bucks the trend
Nestlé Nigeria provides the clearest example of why gross finance cost alone does not tell the whole story.
Its gross finance costs increased 10.9 per cent to ₦47.86 billion from ₦43.17 billion.
Yet the company's net finance position improved substantially because finance income surged to ₦33.26 billion from just ₦1.12 billion.
Much of that increase reflected a foreign exchange translation gain.
As a result, net finance cost still fell 65.3 per cent, from ₦42.05 billion to ₦14.60 billion.
The distinction is important.
Nestlé’s net finance position improved, but its underlying gross financing burden did not fall. Instead, the company benefited from a significant increase in finance income, supporting Abiodun’s assessment that Nestlé has focused more on servicing its obligations than rapidly reducing its outstanding debt.
That strategy could produce a different earnings profile from companies that are aggressively shrinking their debt balances.
International Breweries: higher cost, but still net finance income
International Breweries also moved against the broader sector trend.
Its gross finance costs rose 80.6 per cent, from ₦3.90 billion to ₦7.05 billion.
Finance income increased as well, rising 27.6 per cent to ₦11.96 billion.
The company consequently remained in a net finance income position.
However, that net income declined 10.3 per cent, from ₦5.47 billion to ₦4.91 billion.
The figures suggest that while the company continues to benefit from finance income, the cost of its financing obligations is moving in the wrong direction.
Champion Breweries records the biggest increase
Champion Breweries posted the most dramatic increase in finance costs among the companies analysed.
Group finance costs rose more than eightfold, from ₦543.7 million to ₦4.91 billion.
The increase coincided with a broader corporate transformation involving the consolidation of a new subsidiary.
That transaction resulted in the recognition of ₦3.49 billion in goodwill and a first-time non-controlling interest on the group's balance sheet.
At group level, net finance cost increased by 865 per cent, while the standalone parent recorded a 910 per cent increase.
The sharp rise in financing costs was significant enough to push the parent company into a pre-tax loss during the period.
The bigger picture
The first-half numbers point to an important shift in the financial health of Nigeria's consumer goods industry.
The sector is no longer dealing with the immediate aftermath of the 2023–24 currency crisis in quite the same way it was previously. Companies are generating stronger operating earnings, rebuilding cash buffers and, in several cases, using those cash flows to aggressively reduce debt.
But the recovery is not uniform.
Some companies are actively paying down borrowings. Others are servicing obligations while relying on finance income and foreign exchange movements to cushion their net financing position. A few, such as Champion Breweries, are experiencing higher financing costs as their corporate structures evolve.
For investors, that makes finance costs an increasingly important metric to watch.
The headline improvement in sector-wide finance costs is encouraging, but the more important question is whether companies can sustain the gains without relying on favourable foreign exchange movements or one-off income.
If operating profits continue to strengthen and debt keeps falling, lower finance costs could become a durable source of earnings growth.
If debt reduction stalls, however, the sector could remain vulnerable to renewed currency or interest-rate shocks.
For now, the ₦21 billion reduction in combined finance costs represents a meaningful step forward.
The next test is whether Nigeria’s consumer giants can turn that temporary relief from the debt burden into a permanent improvement in profitability and cash generation.