NGX earnings season: MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank lead H1 reporting in July

A broad sweep of Nigeria’s biggest listed companies — spanning telecoms, banking, industrial goods, consumer goods, construction, insurance, and healthcare — will hold board meetings and file half-year or second-quarter unaudited results with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) throughout July 2026.

This is according to the NGX Corporate Disclosures/Release Calendar, compiled by Nairametrics.

At least 18 companies are scheduled to either convene board meetings to approve their Q2/H1 numbers or formally file those results with the market and regulators before the month ends, with the bulk of activity concentrated in the final week of July.

What the calendar shows:

Most reporting activity clusters around July 28–31, with July 30 alone hosting board meetings or filings for at least eight companies, including:

• MTN Nigeria
• Zenith Bank
• Access Holdings
• Nigerian Breweries
• Unilever Nigeria
• May & Baker, and
• AXA Mansard

These are scheduled to file their H1 results on July 30, while Julius Berger rounds out the month, with its Q2 filing due on July 31, a day after its board meeting.

Ahead of the corporate disclosures, a series of key board meetings will set the tone for the reporting season. SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc is scheduled to meet on July 21, followed by Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc on July 22 and Unilever Nigeria Plc on July 23 to consider and approve their second-quarter and half-year financial statements ahead of filing with the Nigerian Exchange.

Full breakdown by date:

• July 21: SUNU Assurances Nigeria — Board meeting to approve H1 2026 unaudited accounts
• July 22: Abbey Bank Plc — Board meeting to consider Q2 2026 unaudited financials
• July 23: Unilever Nigeria — Board meeting to approve Q2 2026 results
• July 24: Haldane McCall — Board meeting to approve Q2 accounts
• July 28: Lafarge Africa — Board meeting on Q2 unaudited financials; Mecure Industries — board meeting to review Q2 financials; Prestige Assurance — board meeting to approve Q2 unaudited results (to be filed by July 30)
• July 29: MTN Nigeria — Board meeting to approve unaudited H1 2026 results; Consolidated Hallmark Holdings — board meeting on Q2 accounts
• July 30: MTN Nigeria (filing), Zenith Bank (board meeting), Access Holdings (board meeting and filing), Nigerian Breweries (filing and board meeting), Unilever Nigeria (filing), Julius Berger (board meeting), May & Baker (filing), AXA Mansard (filing and board meeting), SUNU Assurances (filing)
• July 31: Julius Berger — Filing of Q2 2026 unaudited consolidated results

What to expect from the big names:

MTN Nigeria heads into its H1 filing on a strong footing, building on one of its best quarters on record.

• The telecom giant reported a pre-tax profit of N546.42 billion for the quarter, representing a 169.64% increase compared to N202.65 billion recorded in Q1 2025.
• The performance marks MTN Nigeria’s second-best quarterly pre-tax profit since listing, coming just 4% below the N569.59 billion recorded in Q4 2025.
• Q1 revenue climbed 41.6% year-on-year to N1.49 trillion, reflecting stronger data consumption, tariff adjustments implemented in early 2025, subscriber growth, and expanding digital services adoption.
• MTN Nigeria recorded a net FX gain of N90.27 billion in 2025, followed by another N33.3 billion FX gain in Q1 2026, which became one of the biggest drivers behind the company’s return to profitability.

In response to the results, the company’s Board proposed a final dividend of N15 per share, bringing the total dividend payout for the year 2025 to N20 per share.

• Agusto & Co. has since upgraded the long-term rating of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc to Aaa, the highest rating on its national scale, from Aa+, while reaffirming the company’s short-term rating at A1+, citing strong cash flow generation and low leverage.

Analysts and investors are keenly looking forward to the upcoming H1, 2026 financial results, which will determine the share price currently at N780 as of Wednesday, July 8.

Zenith Bank goes into its July 30 board meeting after a steady start to the year.

• Zenith Bank’s Q1 2026 group profit before tax rose by 2.87% year-on-year to N360.92 billion, compared to N350.82 billion recorded in Q1 2025, while profit after tax increased modestly by 0.69% to N314.02 billion, reflecting stable earnings despite rising loan impairments and cost pressures.

The bank’s top-line growth remained robust, with gross revenue crossing the N1 trillion mark at N1.01 trillion, representing a 6.14% increase year-on-year, largely supported by strong interest income, which climbed to N869.10 billion, even as interest expenses declined by 4.64% to N235.02 billion.

• Non-interest income emerged as a key driver during the period, with net fee and commission income surging by 44.53% to N81.05 billion, though loan impairments increased by 16.53% to N57.57 billion, indicating a higher cost of risk environment.

Earlier in the year, Zenith Bank made history by becoming the first Nigerian bank to surpass the N5 trillion market capitalization threshold, cementing its status as the most valuable banking stock in the country.

Access Holdings reports both a board meeting and a filing on July 30, coming off one of its stronger quarters.

• Access Holdings Plc’s Q1 2026 group pre-tax profit grew by 22.19% to N272.210 billion, driven by strong growth in non-interest income.
• The group’s interest income declined by 9% to N895.034 billion, while non-interest income grew by 19% to N444.683 billion.
• This follows a record full-year 2025, in which profit before tax crossed the N1 trillion mark for the first time, rising to N1.01 trillion, a 16.2% increase compared to the previous year.

Despite the strong earnings, management disclosed that Access Holdings’ exposure to foreign banking subsidiaries currently stands at about 19.3%, almost double the regulatory threshold under BOFIA Section 19(8)(c), which became the key hurdle that prevented dividend payments in 2025 despite delivering record profitability.

However, the Group Chairman recently dropped hints on possible payment of dividends in 2026, saying the bank was working to address the critical regulatory issues that prevented it from paying dividends in 2025.

The outcome of this promise will determine the share price, which could not benefit from the broad rally seen in the first five months of 2026. The stock has stagnated between N24 and N26 for the greater part of this year.

Nigerian Breweries enters its H1 filing on the back of a Q1 that confirmed its recovery from the 2023–2024 currency crisis.

• Nigerian Breweries Plc reported a pretax profit of N80.4 billion in its unaudited Q1 2026 results, a 14.89% increase from the N69.9 billion posted in Q1 2025, with growth largely supported by a stronger revenue base of N413.01 billion, up from N383.6 billion in the same quarter last year.
• Profit after tax stood at N55.95 billion, representing a 25.6% increase over the N44.55 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2025.

A key factor in the recovery was the significant reduction in FX losses: Nigerian Breweries recorded zero foreign exchange losses in 2025 and Q1 2026, compared to the N153.3 billion FX loss in 2023 and N257.1 billion FX loss in 2024.

The company also aggressively reduced its debt, cutting total borrowings from N341.6 billion in 2023 to N59.7 billion in 2025, and by Q1 2026, its debt stood at N56.1 billion, raising hope of improved returns to shareholders in 2026.

Lafarge Africa — now rebranded HBM Nigeria Plc — heads into its July 28 board meeting after a landmark 2025 financial year and a corporate transformation and a Q1, 2026 robust earnings.

• The industrial goods company recorded N334.88 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2026, representing a 34.84% increase from N248.3 billion reported a year earlier, with cement sales contributing 97.8% of total revenue.
• Its gross profit surged to N205.4 billion from N122.9 billion in Q1 2025, highlighting stronger margins and improved operating efficiency in Q1 2026.
• Post-tax profit climbed 101.37% year-on-year to N97.9 billion while retained earnings expanded to N602.8 billion.

Lafarge had raised its dividend from N1.20 in 2024 to N10 per share in 2025, backed by EPS of N16.96 following an exceptional full year 2025 performance that saw Profit After Tax jump from N100.1 billion in 2024 to N273 billion in 2025, representing a 173% increase.

The name change was approved by shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting held on April 30, 2026, and has now received formal regulatory approval from the Corporate Affairs Commission, which issued a new Certificate of Incorporation reflecting the transition from Lafarge Africa Plc to HBM Nigeria Plc.

Unilever Nigeria, holding its board meeting on July 23 before filing on July 30, continued its double-digit growth run into the new year.

• Unilever Nigeria Plc’s unaudited Q1 2026 results delivered a 26% increase in revenue to N59.2 billion, compared to N46.9 billion in the same period last year. Operating profit rose by 39% to N11.5 billion, up from N8.3 billion in the prior year, while net profit increased by 26% to N7.0 billion.

Julius Berger, the last major name to report, closes the month with its filing on July 31 after a mixed but ultimately profitable April quarter.

• Julius Berger Nigeria Plc reported a pretax profit of N9.8 billion for Q1 2026, a 66.10% increase from the N5.9 billion recorded in Q1 2025, supported by a strong revenue base, reduced costs, and notable investment income during the period.
• Revenue for the quarter came in at N177.5 billion, slightly below N180.5 billion, with civil works contributing 63.4%, building works 22.2%, and Africa accounting for 92.7% regionally.
• Backed by N4.8 billion in investment income, profitability remained firm, while retained earnings rose 37.81% year-on-year to N86.3 billion.

The July calendar also features a cluster of smaller-cap names spanning insurance, healthcare, and financial services, all due to consider or file their Q2 numbers before month-end, including:

• Abbey Bank which is transitioning into a full-blown regional bank.
• Haldane McCall
• May & Baker
• Mecure Industries
• AXA Mansard
• Consolidated Hallmark Holdings
• SUNU Assurances, and
• Prestige Assurance.

What you should know:

Given the strength already shown across banking, telecoms, and industrial goods in Q1 2026 — and with HBM Nigeria (formerly Lafarge Africa), MTN Nigeria, and Access Holdings all coming off record or near-record profitability — market watchers will be looking to see whether that momentum holds into the first half of the year.

Board approvals typically precede public filings by a day or two, meaning investors should expect the earliest read-through on H1 performance from board meeting outcomes, with full unaudited financial statements following once filed with the NGX and disclosed to the investing public.