Nigerian listed companies earn N179.5bn finance income in H1 2026, up 174% YoY
Nigerian listed companies earned N179.5 billion in finance income in the first half of 2026, a 174% jump from N65.6 billion in H1 2025. Across the broader sample of all reviewed companies, total finance income exceeded N200 billion. The earnings come from interest on treasury bills, FGN bonds, bank deposits and money market placements, reflecting the high-interest-rate environment after the CBN raised the Monetary Policy Rate to 27.5%.
MTN Nigeria led with N46.8 billion, boosted by a net N240 billion purchase of government bonds and treasury bills. Dangote Cement collected N14.8 billion, Julius Berger and Presco each posted N9 billion, while NASCON more than doubled its finance income to N5.3 billion. Seplat Energy earned $9.1 million, up 10.3% year-on-year. In contrast, leveraged firms suffered: BUA Cement’s finance income fell from N18.7 billion to N7.5 billion and Oando’s dropped by N6.1 billion.
Total cash and short-term deposits among 35 listed companies rose N437 billion to N5.41 trillion, an 8.8% increase. Companies like Dangote Cement and BUA Foods deployed surplus cash into short‑term investments, while Nestle’s cash fell despite finance income due to foreign‑exchange gains.
With manufacturers warning that the high MPR limits credit, will you re‑evaluate your investment focus toward cash‑rich beneficiaries of the rate environment or consider the risks for heavily indebted firms?