Business

Unilever Nigeria H1-26 UFS underpinned by 29.8% Opex growth

By editor

Posted on July 23, 2026

57.8% y/y surge in tax expenses•N2.00 interim dividend declared

UNILEVER’ Nigeria Plc H1-26 earnings released recently by the NGX Exchange showed stronger revenue growth by 18.8% y/y, driven by the Food Products segment.

However, OPEX growth by 29.8% y/y outpaced revenue growth of 22.2% y/y, limiting margin expansion despite ongoing cost optimization.

The board declared an interim dividend of NGN2.00/share, translating to a dividend yield of 1.6%.

Unilever Nigeria Plc (UNILEVER) published its Q2-26 unaudited results on 21 July, reporting EPS of NGN1.49, which also showed decline by 3.1% y/y, which brought H1-26 EPS to NGN2.72, reflecting +8.3% y/y growth.

The softer quarterly earnings reflected an 18.9% y/y increase in operating expenses and a 57.8% y/y surge in tax expense, which more than offset the benefit of healthy top-line growth.

Nonetheless, the board declared an interim dividend of NGN2.00/share, translating to a dividend yield of 1.6%.

UNILEVER grew revenue by 18.8% y/y in Q2-26 (H1-26: +22.2% y/y), reflecting the residual benefits of prior price increases alongside modest volume recovery.

Food Products remained the key growth driver, with revenue expanding 26.3% y/y (H1- 26: +31.3% y/y), increasing its contribution to group revenue to 64.8% from 61.0% a year earlier (Q1-26: 63.7%). Beauty & Wellbeing also posted healthy growth of 13.6% y/y, contributing 9.9% of group revenue.

Meanwhile, Personal Care grew modestly by 4.7% y/y (H1-26: +4.7% y/y) and accounted for 24.9% of sales, reflecting continued pressure on discretionary consumer spending.

Sequentially, group revenue increased by 2.7% q/q, driven by stronger sales in Beauty & Wellbeing (+10.9% q/q) and Food Products (+4.4% q/q), which more than offset the 4.5% q/q decline in Personal Care.