Meet the Top Nigerian Companies in the Trillion-Naira Revenue Club

Over the years, Nigerian businesses have been faced with one challenge or the other and as these businesses/companies continue to try and navigate the economic hurdles in their way, a select few companies have earned their spots in the listed companies’ trillion-naira revenue club.

Careful analysis on the company results of the top 30 companies on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), popularly known as the ‘NGX30’, revealed the names of the only companies that crossed the trillion-naira revenue mark in the year 2022. These companies are:

•MTN Nigeria

•Dangote Cement

•Access Holdings Plc

•Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc

•Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

In 2022, the combined revenue of these five companies saw a growth of 24.72%, reaching N7.21 trillion from N5.78 trillion in 2021.

Let us take a closer look into each of these Companies

MTN Nigeria

Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, said in their latest earnings report:

“Our strong commercial momentum, supported by an accelerated investment in our network, enabled growth across all revenue lines. As a result,”

“Our ability to maintain service revenue growth while unlocking efficiencies through disciplined execution of our expense efficiency programme led to a 22.0 percent growth in EBITDA and a 0.2pp expansion in EBITDA margin to 53.2 percent, in line with our medium-term target range,” 

In 2022, MTN Nigeria experienced its highest revenue in five years with a 21.82% rise in total revenue, reaching N2.01 trillion compared to N1.65 trillion in 2021, driven by an increase in service revenue.

Access Holdings

Access Holdings has recently become a member of Nigeria's trillion-naira revenue club, having experienced a significant 43% increase in gross earnings for 2022, reaching N1.39 trillion compared to N971.89 billion in 2021. This increase is primarily attributed to a substantial rise of 528.19% in net gains on investment securities. The tier-one bank also reported a 37.53 percent increase in interest income to N827.47 billion in 2022 from N601.65 billion in 2021. Interest income grew on the back of a 22.6 percent growth in interest income on net loans to customers and 64 percent increase in interest income on investment securities.

Dangote Cement

Dangote Cement, Nigeria's largest cement manufacturer, has reported a 17.39% increase in revenue for 2022, reaching N1.62 trillion compared to N1.38 trillion in 2021. The company attributed the growth in revenue to improved price realization, which helped offset rising costs.

 However, there was a decline in volumes, which decreased by 5.1% to 27.67Mt in 2022 from 29.27Mt in 2021. The price per tonne also rose by 23.30% to N58,282 in 2022 from N47,270 in 2021. Dangote Cement explained that the drop in volume was due to inflation, energy supply disruptions, extended plant maintenance in Senegal and Congo, and volatility in cement/clinker landing costs in Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra-Leone.

Flour Mills Nigeria

The company’s statement reads: “The fertiliser business recorded a 64 percent growth in revenues and 82 percent profit growth driven by the commissioning of a new fertilizer blending plant in May 2022. The oils and fat business grew by 54 percent driven by increased volumes due to intensified milling activities while the animal feeds business reported 20 percent topline growth owing to increased product availability.

“Golden Sugar recorded an impressive 34 percent revenue growth; this was achieved due to increased volumes, various customer engagement, and popularity of our locally produced brown sugar.”

Flour Mill Nigeria recorded its highest revenue in eight years, reaching N1.11 trillion in the nine-month period of 2023 (9M'2023), which is a 35% increase from the N825 billion reported in the same period in 2022.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

In 2022, Ecobank's total earnings increased by almost 13% to N1.08 trillion from N956 billion in 2021. The bank's interest income also grew by 14%, earning N690 billion in 2022, compared to N603 billion in 2021. 

Ecobank's fees and commission income increased by 11%, generating N227.8 billion in 2022, up from N205 billion in 2021. Additionally, the bank earned N133 billion from revenue trading in 2022, which was a 10% increase from the previous year. Finally, Ecobank had net investment income of N5.65 billion in 2022.

Nigerian businesses have faced numerous challenges over the years, but a select few have managed to overcome these obstacles and join the trillion-naira revenue club. The latest data analysis of the top 30 companies on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has revealed that only five companies were able to achieve this milestone in 2022 - MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Access Holdings Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.