By April 05, (THEWILL) — The three leading cement manufacturers in Nigeria – Dangote Cement Plc, BUA Cement Plc, and Lafarge Africa Plc – achieved a total post-tax profit of N1.64 trillion in 2025 against N672.28 billion in 2024 representing a 144.6 percent jump. The trio also witnessed a 27.18 percent increase in combined revenue to the tune of N6.55 trillion in 2025 compared with N5.15 trillion in the preceding year. The notable surge in profit and revenue was propelled by aggressive price hikes, as indicated by their individual financial statements for the year.
A deeper examination of their reports revealed that this remarkable performance took place alongside a 47.89 percent decrease in the cost of funds, which is a critical cost factor affecting the operations of publicly listed companies. The companies posted a combined N418.84 billion cost of funds during 2025 which is a sharp N384.64 billion drop from N803.48 billion recorded in 2024.
Dangote Cement, the giant among the three, posted a profit after tax of N1 trillion in 2025 against N503.2 billion in 2024, representing an increase of 101.6 percent. Its gross revenue climbed to N4.3 trillion from N3.5 trillion in the preceding year. Interestingly, the cost of funds dropped to N351.5 billion from N700 billion in the previous year – constituting an increase of 49.7 percent.
BUA Cement, another industry giant, recorded a post-tax profit of 381.7 percent from N73.9 billion in 2024 to N356 billion in the review period. Revenue followed the same growth trend, rising from N876.4 billion in 2024 to N1,179.4 trillion in 2025, constituting a jump of 34.5 percent. Yet, cost of fund lowered to N56.28 billion from N60 billion in the previous year.
Lafarge Africa also enjoyed a robust year as post-tax profit rose from N100.4 billion in 2024 to N273.2 billion in 2025 representing an increase of 172.2 percent, while revenue soared to N1 trillion from N696.7 billion in the year prior, a rise of 50 percent. The company recorded a significant drop in cost of funds to N11 billion from N43.2 billion in 2024 – a decrease of 292.2 percent.
While the three cement companies posted a combined net profit of N511.68 billion and total revenue of N726 billion, their combined finance cost dropped to N418.8 billion in 2025 from N803.4 billion in the previous year, translating to a 91.8 percent decrease.
This suggests that the cement companies made their huge profits in 2025 from the aggressive price increases they pursued during the year as they borrowed less from the banks. The price increase which spilled over to 2026, and has remained in the upward trend as at date, became noticeable from their H1 2025 results.
The cement companies posted impressive earnings in H1 2025; but the story behind the numbers was one of consumers bearing the brunt of unrelenting price hikes. As the economy grappled with stubborn inflation, high energy costs, and expensive imports, cement producers shifted much of the burden onto households, builders, and developers driving construction costs to new highs.
Nigeria’s cement market remains highly concentrated in the hands of three dominant players, a structure that limits competition and gives producers significant pricing power. The producers have consistently attributed the price hikes to rising costs of diesel and other industrial fuels, as well as frequent disruptions in gas supplies, which they say significantly impacted production costs.
Consequently, over the past two years, cement prices have surged to unprecedented levels. Between 2023 and 2025, the average open-market price of a 50kg bag of cement has more than doubled, climbing from about N5,000 to over N11,000.
Cement remains one of the most critical inputs in construction, accounting for a significant proportion of the overall cost of building houses. Industry analysts explain that when the price of cement rises, the entire cost structure of housing development is affected. In addition to cement, the cost of other construction inputs, such as iron rods and sand has also increased considerably.
The combined effect of these rising costs is that developers are now facing serious financial pressures, which are already leading to delays in project delivery, scaling down of housing developments, and in some cases the suspension or abandonment of projects.
The three cement producers command a combined market capitalisation of N28.28 trillion or 21.8 percent of total market capitalisation of the NGX N129.45 as of March 31, 2026. Dangote 13.57 trillion; BUA N11.1 trillion; Lafarge N3.61 trillion.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
