International Breweries Plc recorded a net profit of N51 billion in 2025, its first profit in seven years, reversing a N113.6 billion loss in 2024. The turnaround was driven by a 21 percent increase in revenue to N619 billion, supported by higher sales volumes, price adjustments, and a more stable operating environment. Gross profit rose to N210 billion from N131.35 billion the previous year, despite rising input costs.
A key factor in the recovery was the naira's 7.5 percent appreciation in 2025—the first annual gain in over a decade—which sharply reduced foreign exchange losses. Net FX losses fell to N14 billion from over N166 billion in 2024, aided by N8.4 billion in unrealised FX gains. Profit before tax improved to N89 billion from a loss of N111.8 billion. The company reported no outstanding loans or overdrafts, with net finance income of N6 billion compared to a N20.7 billion finance cost in 2024.
Cash generated from operations dipped to N139.3 billion from N148.9 billion, though cash and cash equivalents rose to N155.4 billion. Accumulated losses declined to N191.03 billion from N241.9 billion, lifting total equity to N499.8 billion. No dividends were declared due to residual retained losses. The stock gained nearly 7 percent on Friday, offsetting part of its 13 percent year-to-date decline.
International Breweries' return to profitability after seven years is less a triumph of corporate strategy and more a reflection of how deeply Nigerian businesses are at the mercy of currency stability. The company, controlled by AB InBev, swung from a N113.6 billion loss to a N51 billion profit almost entirely because the naira gained 7.5 percent—reversing FX losses that had previously drowned its earnings. This isn't a turnaround story so much as a confirmation that in Nigeria, macroeconomic conditions can override even the most disciplined operational efforts.
The financials expose the fragile foundation of industrial recovery in import-dependent sectors. While revenue and gross profit improved, the real shift came from the balance sheet's foreign exchange line—not from innovation, cost control, or market expansion. The company's elimination of debt helped, but the dominant factor was external: a rare currency gain in a market where devaluation has long been the default. With ongoing global tensions, including the Middle East war affecting energy and supply chains, that stability is already under threat.
For ordinary Nigerians, especially those employed in manufacturing or reliant on formal sector jobs, this underscores how economic volatility directly impacts corporate survival—and by extension, livelihoods. Workers at International Breweries may now face less pressure from cost-cutting, but the broader lesson is grim: Nigerian industry remains hostage to exchange rate swings, not insulated by productivity or policy.
This is not an outlier. It fits a well-established pattern where Nigerian corporate fortunes rise and fall with the naira, not with structural improvements in business environment or investment. Until local production, energy, and forex access are decoupled from global shocks, profitability will remain a function of luck, not planning.
