Presco, Okomu Post ₦202bn Combined Earnings in Breakout Year
Nigeria’s foremost palm oil giants, Presco Plc and Okomu Oil Palm Plc, have wrapped up an exceptional 2025 financial year one marked by robust demand, rising palm oil prices, and operational gains that culminated in a combined earnings run of about ₦202 billion, setting a new benchmark in the agribusiness sector. This performance underscores not just a cyclical lift in commodity pricing but also the strategic execution by management teams across both companies.
Throughout 2025, global Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices climbed sharply, averaging around $1,007 per metric tonne from about $923 the year before. This price swell offered a strong tailwind for both Nigerian producers, allowing them to leverage higher export and domestic sales volumes.
The result: revenues surged significantly, with the duo’s total revenue jumping about 125 percent to nearly ₦539 billion, signaling that demand for palm oil in local and regional markets remains resilient even as global supply conditions tighten.
Presco, widely regarded as Nigeria’s largest integrated palm oil producer, was the bigger contributor to the aggregate figure with an impressive performance across all reporting periods. The company posted a profit before tax of approximately ₦178.56 billion for the full year, up more than 50 percent from the prior year, while profit after tax climbed to around ₦138 billion a demonstration of both revenue strength and operational leverage. Management also proposed a ₦72 billion dividend payout, reflecting confidence in continued shareholder returns.
Particularly noteworthy has been Presco’s consistency throughout the year. In interim reporting, the firm announced significant profit milestones, including over ₦139.7 billion in profit before tax by the end of September and strong year-on-year growth in each quarter.
These outcomes allowed the board to declare multiple interim dividends, including a ₦10 per share payout, reinforcing its commitment to rewarding investors amid earnings momentum.
Okomu’s story complements Presco’s but places additional emphasis on efficiency and margin performance. While smaller in scale, Okomu delivered a profit after tax of ₦63.53 billion for the full year 2025, a marked improvement from prior periods as gross profit jumped over 70 percent on the back of higher palm oil prices and optimized operating performance. This translated into a nearly 49 percent profit margin, outpacing Presco’s 42 percent, and underlining superior capital and asset utilization.
Despite pressures from growing finance costs particularly for Presco, where financing expenses jumped sharply due to expanded borrowings for strategic investments both firms managed to translate strong top line gains into solid bottom-line results.
For Okomu, foreign exchange gains were tempered by a more stable naira, which reduced the unrealized forex benefits seen in earlier years, yet cost control and improved production still drove significant earnings growth.
Analysts, including those at Meristem Securities, remain optimistic about the sector’s trajectory in 2026, projecting that higher harvest volumes, improved operational efficiency, and steady demand for palm oil products will continue to support earnings, even as global price volatility moderates. Their view suggests that fundamentals underpinning both Presco and Okomu are structural rather than purely cyclical.
Ultimately, the “earnings spree” seen at Presco and Okomu in 2025 speaks to both the resilience and potential of Nigeria’s agricultural export sector. It highlights how strategic growth initiatives, coupled with favorable market conditions, can dramatically elevate performance — offering a compelling narrative for investors seeking exposure to domestic agribusiness champions that are generating real scale and profits.
Comments