- May & Baker, most attractive among manufacturing stocks
- Comparative Analysis of Manufacturing Sector in Q3 2025
Wole Olajide, ACS
Year 2025 is indeed a good year for the manufacturing sector regarding their financial reports as against 2024 when their bottom-line figures took a hit due to FOREX instability, among other factors. This year, manufacturers have performed excellently well with consistent growth across board in their figures for Q1, Q2 and Q3 respectively.
Ranking the performance of the manufacturing sector based on their third quarter earnings, Presco emerged best in Turnover Growth and Profit Margin. BUA Cement leads in Profit after tax (PAT) growth while May & Baker emerged as the most attractive stock, being the Company with the lowest price-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio) and highest in earnings yield.
The metrics used for ranking the earnings performance of manufacturing sector in Q3 2025 includes: Turnover Growth (Revenue Growth), Profit after Tax Growth, Earnings per Share (EPS), Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio), Earnings Yield and Profit Margin.
PERFOMANCE IN TURNOVER GROWTH
- Presco Plc emerged first in turnover growth in Q3 2025 as the Company reported revenue of N274.501 billion, up by 113.51% from N128.568 billion reported the previous year.
- Okomu ranked second in turnover growth. The Palm Oil producer reported revenue of N173.951 billion for the 9 months period. This represents 67.34% growth from N103.949 billion revenue reported in Q3 2024.
- Lafarge Africa (WAPCO) emerged third in terms of turnover growth. The cement manufacturer reported revenue of N780.486 billion for the 9 months period, up by 62.77% from N479.496 billion revenue reported the previous year.
- Fidson Healthcare emerged fourth in turnover growth. The pharmaceutical company reported revenue of N93.082 billion for the 9 months period, up by 55.84% from N59.729 billion revenue reported the previous year.
- Nigerian Breweries is the fifth in terms of turnover growth among other manufacturing firms. The Company reported revenue of N1.046 trillion in Q3 2025, up by 47.2% from N710.872 billion revenue reported in Q3 2024.
- Others in the ranking for turnover growth include: BUA Cement (47.19%), NASCON (46.88%), May & Baker (35.30%), Nestle Nigeria (32.96%), BUA Foods (32.68%), Dangote Sugar (29.27%), CAP Plc (28.01%), Berger Paints (23.23%) and Dangote Cement (23.21%) respectively.
PERFORMANCE IN PROFIT AFTER TAX (PAT)
- BUA Cement grew its profit after tax by 491.9% year on year to N289.855 billion from N48.97 billion profit reported the previous year, emerging as best in terms of PAT growth.
- Berger Paints ranked second in terms of growth in profit after tax. The company reported profit after tax of N968 million for the 9 months period, up by 378.94% from N202 million profit reported in Q3 2024.
- Lafarge Africa Plc grew its profit after tax by 245.86% year on year to N207.78 billion from N60.076 billion reported in Q3 2024.
- NASCON grew its profit after tax by 171.62% to N24.328 billion from N8.956 billion achieved the previous year.
- Dangote Cement holds the fifth position when it comes to growth in PAT. The cement manufacturer grew profit after tax by 166.31% to N743.263 billion from N279.096 billion profit reported the previous year.
PERFORMANCE IN EARNINGS PER SHARE, P/E RATIO AND EARNINGS YIELD
- May & Baker has EPS of N1.94 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N17.6, the P/E ratio stands at 9.08x with earnings yield of 11.01%. Being the Company with the lowest P/E and highest earnings yield among the manufacturing firms captured for this review, May & Baker is the most attractive.
- Lafarge Africa has EPS of N12.90 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N131, the P/E ratio stands at 10.16x with earnings yield of 9.85%.
- Berger Paint has EPS of N3.34 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N35.1, the P/E ratio stands at 10.51x with earnings yield of 9.52%.
- NASCON has EPS of N9 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N99, the P/E ratio stands at 11x with earnings yield of 9.09%.
- Fidson Healthcare has EPS of N3.47 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N40, the P/E ratio stands at 11.51x with earnings yield of 8.69%.
- Presco has EPS of N110.79 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N1480, the P/E ratio stands at 13.36x with earnings yield of 7.49%.
- Dangote Cement has EPS of N44.05 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N660, the P/E ratio stands at 14.98x with earnings yield of 6.67%.
- CAP Plc has EPS of N4.51 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N73, the P/E ratio stands at 16.18x with earnings yield of 6.18%.
- Okomu has EPS of N63.25 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N1110, the P/E ratio stands at 17.55x with earnings yield of 5.70%.
- Nestle has EPS of N91.44 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N1730, the P/E ratio stands at 18.92x with earnings yield of 5.29%.
- BUA Cement has EPS of N8.56 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N180, the P/E ratio stands at 21.03x with earnings yield of 4.76%.
- Nigerian Breweries has EPS of N2.76 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N67, the P/E ratio stands at 24.28x with earnings yield of 4.12%.
- BUA Foods has EPS of N22.52 in Q3 2025. At the share price of N692.50, the P/E ratio stands at 30.76x with earnings yield of 3.25%.
PROFIT MARGIN
Profit margin is a financial ratio that measures the percentage of profit earned by a company in relation to its revenue. Expressed as a percentage, it indicates how much profit the company makes for every revenue generated. Profit margin is important because this percentage provides a comprehensive picture of the operating efficiency of a business or an industry. It’s calculated as Profit After Tax, divided by Revenue or Turnover, multiplied by 100.
- Presco achieved the profit margin of 40.36%, emerging top in the manufacturing sector for the period under review. With revenue of N274.501 billion and profit after tax of N110.786 billion, profit margin of 44.36% for the 9 months period is impressive.
- Okomu Oil achieved profit margin of 34.68% for the period under review, emerging as second in the ranking for profit margin.
- BUA Cement emerged third in ranking with the profit margin of 33.75%.
- BUA Foods achieved profit margin of 28.53%, emerging as fourth in the ranking.
- Lafarge Africa (WAPCO) achieved profit margin of 26.62% emerging as fifth in the ranking.
