PZ Cussons Nigeria has delivered a dramatic turnaround in its audited results for the year ended 31 May 2026. Revenue rose 22 per cent to N260.46 billion while profit after tax surged 349 per cent to N45.17 billion. Earnings per share jumped from N2.32 to N10.87, and shareholders’ equity swung from a deficit of N17.34 billion to a positive N66.64 billion.
The company has proposed a dividend of N2.50 per share, its first payout since 2022. At the late-August closing price of N81, that equates to a yield of roughly 3.1 per cent.
Yet the headline profit number needs closer inspection. Roughly N38.67 billion of the pre-tax profit came from gains on the disposal of non-core assets and scrap sales. Strip those out and underlying pre-tax profit still more than doubled, rising 132 per cent from N16.65 billion to N38.65 billion. Recurring operating profit climbed 117 per cent to N37.1 billion.
In short, the core business was already improving strongly. The asset sales simply amplified the result and helped repair a balance sheet that had been under pressure for years. Current liabilities were cut from N185 billion to N92 billion and short-term borrowings collapsed from N71 billion to just N5.9 billion.
If the N38.67 billion disposal gain is removed and a similar tax rate applied, profit after tax falls to around N22.6 billion. After minority interests, attributable profit would be roughly N20.6 billion, or about N5.20 per share.
That underlying figure puts the shares on a more realistic multiple of around 15.6 times earnings at N81, rather than the optically cheap 7.5 times on reported EPS.
Management has signalled continued focus on profitable growth, a stronger balance sheet and long-term shareholder value. The company does not need another large asset sale to stay profitable or maintain the N2.50 dividend. But it does need the brands and operations to keep delivering.
A conservative scenario that applies the 14.6 per cent compound growth rate seen in underlying earnings between 2022 and 2025 would lift attributable profit to about N23.6 billion in 2027, or roughly N5.94 per share. At today’s share price that would leave the stock on about 14 times forward earnings. The proposed dividend would still be covered, consuming around 42 per cent of those earnings and leaving room to rebuild retained earnings further.
The asset disposals fixed the past. From here, the share price will be driven by whether the operating business can generate the recurring growth that justifies the current valuation.
