Nine of Nigeria’s ten largest listed consumer goods companies generated less dollar revenue in 2025 than they did in 2022, the last full year before Nigeria’s foreign exchange reforms, even as their combined naira revenue nearly tripled and all ten delivered real growth over the same period.
The ten companies generated a combined $4.85 billion in dollar revenue in 2025, down 22.0% from $6.22 billion in 2022, while their combined naira revenue rose 178.3% from N2.65 trillion to N7.37 trillion over the same three years.
Adjusted for inflation, combined real naira revenue grew 39.6% over the period, confirming that genuine volume and pricing growth occurred, but not at a pace sufficient to offset the naira’s 256.9% depreciation against the dollar.
Data and analysis were carried out by Nairametrics Research, drawing on audited annual financial statements filed by listed companies with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), with exchange rate and inflation data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The analysis covers the ten largest consumer goods companies by 2025-naira revenue for which 2022 data is available: BUA Foods, Nigerian Breweries, Nestlé Nigeria, Dangote Sugar Refinery, International Breweries, Guinness Nigeria, Honeywell Flour Mill, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria.
Dollar conversions use average annual CBN exchange rates of N425.98 in 2022 and N1,520.11 in 2025. The most recent available period for Honeywell Flour Mill is the quarter ended June 2026, its first quarter of the financial year ending March 2027. PZ Cussons figures for the most recent period reflect its unaudited full year ended May 2026.
The naira numbers are striking. Across the ten companies, the sector’s combined naira revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 40.66% between 2022 and 2025. After adjusting for inflation, the sector’s real compound annual growth rate was 11.77%, which is a meaningful genuine expansion in volume and pricing terms.
BUA Foods also delivered the strongest real naira revenue growth of the ten at 112.8%, reflecting genuine volume expansion across its flour, pasta and sugar businesses that outpaced both inflation and the naira’s depreciation.
The 2023-naira devaluation hit consumer goods companies through higher imported input costs, more expensive foreign currency liabilities and large exchange losses.
To cushion the impact of the naira devaluation, the companies responded through deleveraging, pricing and localization.
In an earlier article published by Nairametrics, seven global companies that have pulled back from Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023 were identified. Some of the companies that have fully exited or substantially scaled back include Equinor, Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.
Equinor, which sold its Nigerian assets to Chappal Energies in a transaction valued at up to $1.2 billion.
Kimberly-Clark, which closed its Lagos manufacturing facility in 2024 after almost 15 years.
Procter & Gamble, which wound down local manufacturing and moved to an import-only model citing the difficulty of operating as a dollar-denominated company in Nigeria.
GlaxoSmithKline stopped selling its pharmaceutical products directly in Nigeria in August 2023, transitioning to a third-party distribution model, while Shoprite’s franchise operations collapsed entirely by March 2026, ending a nearly two-decade presence that began in 2005.
