- Profit Before Tax surged by 61.4% year-on-year to N7.99 billion, driven by strong operating performance and cost efficiency
- Operating income grew 49.1% year-on-year to N54.97 billion, reflecting margin expansion and disciplined capital deployment
- Total assets increased by 29.7% to N383.39 billion, while shareholders’ equity rose 28.8%, underscoring balance sheet resilience and strategic growth
VFD Group Plc (NGX: VFDGROUP), a Principal Investment firm dedicated to building Africa’s ecosystem value chain, today released its nine-month (Q3 2025) unaudited financial results, showing 61% surge in profit before tax and an impressive 49% year-on-year growth in operating income, reflecting cost efficiency gains and margin expansion.
Profit Before Tax for the period ended September 30, 2025, stood at N7.99 billion, compared to Q3 2024, which stood at N4.95 billion, reinforcing sustainability of earnings and its return to shareholders.
Financial Highlights
Business Update
Capital Strength and Deleveraging: The Group’s Debt-to-Equity ratio improved to 1.68x (FY 2024: 2.07x), reflecting consistent accretion of internally generated capital and prudent balance sheet management. The ongoing Rights Issue is expected to further strengthen capital position and overall balance.
More so, the proceeds of the Rights Issue would help to deleverage the balance sheet, reduce funding cost, and ultimately enhance earnings growth and profitability.
VFD Group sustained strong momentum in Q3 2025, reflecting continued focus on value optimization and portfolio enhancement in line with our drive to build a sustainable and scalable investment ecosystem.
Gross earnings rose 35% to N60.72 billion, while net investment income grew 45%, driven by robust subsidiary performance and disciplined capital deployment. Operating profit increased 66%, supported by enhanced efficiency and cost optimization, while operating cashflow turned positive at N12.21 billion, underscoring improved earnings quality and disciplined asset-liability management practice.
The Group’s balance sheet remained resilient, with total assets up 30% to N383.39 billion and shareholders’ equity rising 29% to N71.50 billion, reflecting business expansion and prudent capital management. Across our subsidiaries, and portfolio of associate/investee companies, we continued to create symbiotic opportunities, unlocking inherent value and strengthening overall returns to shareholders.
Looking ahead to Q4 and beyond, we are focused on executing our rights issue, advancing our strategic expansion plan, and scaling growth initiatives.
Nonso Okpala, Group Managing Director, highlighted, “Our third quarter results reflect the compounding effect of disciplined execution: operational efficiency and effectiveness of our strategy. As we optimize our capital allocation and consolidate on our unique position to build a sustainable ecosystem, we are, more than ever, optimistic about our portfolio, with stylized exposure to key growth sectors. The diversification of our portfolio offers a unique blend of growth and resilience, especially as we increasingly leverage scale and scope economies to enhance the group’s profitability and overall returns to shareholders.”
He further noted, “Notwithstanding the complex environment, our cost-efficient strategy proved invaluable, as the cost-to-income ratio moderated 700 basis points to 30.4%. We are consolidating on our stronger footing to fund only the best risk-adjusted opportunities, deploying our capital and liquidity towards assets capable of generating alpha returns. Most notably, the Bvndle Rewards Festival, as our fintech and loyalty subsidiary, Bvndle, continues to demonstrate strong growth momentum and unicorn potential within our portfolio.”
Folajimi Adeleye, Executive Director, Finance and Investor Relations, also noted, “Our Q3 2025 results underscore the effectiveness of our strategy, highlighted by a 65.8% Year-on-Year surge in operating profit and a 61.4% rise in profit-before-tax, reflecting strong cost efficiency gains and margin expansion,”
“We are committed to financial prudence, as evidenced by the improvement in our Debt-to-Equity ratio of 1.68x. The ongoing rights issue will further solidify our capital base, support deleveraging, and position us for sustained, profitable growth,” Adeleye said.
The Group remains remain grateful to our shareholders for their continuous trust in our vision.
About VFD Group
VFD Group Plc (NGX: VFDGROUP) is a Principal Investment Firm that strategically unlocks value for investors across multiple sectors. We are dedicated to building Africa’s value chain of investment by actively aggregating and scaling high-growth businesses within five core sectors: Financial Services & FinTech, Capital Markets, Market Infrastructure, Real Estate & Hospitality, and Ecosystem Support Services.
Our geographical mandate is global. The Group strategically leverages its strong foundation in West Africa to drive expansion, with active operations now spanning Southern Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We are focused on generating consistent, risk-adjusted returns by applying disciplined investment strategies across diverse global economies.
In VFD, our investment decision is based on companies with exceptional management teams, compelling business models, and operate in industries that are within our domain of expertise; alignment with existing portfolio companies based on opportunities for synergies, ensuring that the businesses we invest in gain significant value over time, and then seeking out opportunities for profitable exits.
Forward-looking statements
Certain statements in this document may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Nigerian securities law (collectively “forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future events, including the Company’s future performance, opportunities, or business prospects.
Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to expectations, forecasts, assumptions, objectives, beliefs, projections, plans, guidance, predictions, future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words such as “believes”, “seeks”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “continues”, “may”, “projects”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “pending”, “intends”, “plans”, “could”, “might”, “should”, “will”, “would have” or similar words suggesting future outcomes) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
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