{"id":8464,"date":"2026-11-04T06:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/eternas-9m-pre-tax-profit-surges-635-8-to-n10-28-billion-beats-q3-forecast\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:31:02","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:31:02","slug":"eternas-9m-pre-tax-profit-surges-635-8-to-n10-28-billion-beats-q3-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/eternas-9m-pre-tax-profit-surges-635-8-to-n10-28-billion-beats-q3-forecast\/","title":{"rendered":"Eterna&#8217;s 9M pre-tax profit surges 635.8% to N10.28 billion, beats Q3 forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eterna Plc reported a consolidated pre-tax profit of N10.28 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, representing an increase of 635.80% from N1.40 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In the third quarter, pre-tax profit reached N2.61 billion, reversing the N198.43 million pre-tax loss recorded in Q3 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s standalone Q3 pre-tax profit of N2.54 billion also exceeded its forecast of N1.18 billion by 115.97%, while profit after tax of N1.57 billion surpassed the projected N1.00 billion by 57.29%.<\/p>\n<p>For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue increased by 71.75% to N365.56 billion from N212.84 billion, while profit after tax surged to N7.34 billion from N325.88 million.<\/p>\n<p>The strong earnings performance was supported by substantial growth in fuel revenue and improved gross profitability, despite higher administrative expenses.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Key Highlights<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Revenue: N365.56 billion (Up 71.75% YoY from N212.84 billion).<\/li>\n<li>Gross profit: N23.33 billion (Up 134.79% YoY from N9.94 billion).<\/li>\n<li>Operating profit: N11.19 billion (Up 250.52% YoY from N3.19 billion).<\/li>\n<li>Earnings per share: N3.36 (Up 1,244.00% YoY from N0.25).<\/li>\n<li>Total borrowings: N46.75 billion (Down 32.55% from N69.31 billion in December 2025).<\/li>\n<li>Total assets: N114.19 billion (Up 23.86% from N92.19 billion).<\/li>\n<li>Cash and bank balances: N15.35 billion (Up 223.17% from N4.75 billion).<\/li>\n<li>Shareholders\u2019 equity: N32.99 billion (Up 324.67% from N7.77 billion).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Driving the numbers<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Eterna\u2019s nine-month performance was largely driven by a significant increase in fuel revenue, which remained the group\u2019s largest source of income.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Revenue from fuel sales increased by 91.19% to N339.92 billion from N177.79 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, accounting for 92.99% of total revenue.<\/li>\n<li>In contrast, lubricants revenue declined by 42.57% to N18.68 billion from N32.53 billion, contributing 5.11% of total revenue.<\/li>\n<li>Revenue from other products and services increased by 175.48% to N6.96 billion from N2.53 billion, representing 1.90% of total revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The figures indicate that the group\u2019s revenue expansion was predominantly driven by its fuel business, which more than offset the decline in lubricants sales.<\/p>\n<p>On the cost side, the cost of sales increased by 68.66% to N342.23 billion from N202.91 billion, slower than the growth in revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, gross profit rose by 134.79% to N23.33 billion, with gross profit margin improving to 6.38% from 4.67% in the corresponding period of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>However, operating expenses also increased significantly.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>General and administrative expenses rose by 68.01% to N12.15 billion from N7.23 billion, partly reflecting technical support service fees of N2.74 billion, which were not recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Repairs and maintenance expenses also increased to N1.83 billion from N1.07 billion, while licence fees rose to N974.22 million from N521.19 million.<\/li>\n<li>Despite the higher operating costs, operating profit expanded by 250.52% to N11.19 billion from N3.19 billion, reflecting the stronger gross profit contribution.<\/li>\n<li>On financing, finance costs declined slightly by 1.67% to N1.93 billion from N1.96 billion, while finance income increased to N1.08 billion from N12.25 million, supported by interest income on short-term bank deposits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The group also recorded a net foreign exchange loss of N66.06 million, compared with a gain of N149.85 million in the corresponding period of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The third-quarter results were similarly strong, with consolidated revenue increasing by 168.61% to N148.24 billion from N55.19 billion in Q3 2025.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The balance sheet<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>On the balance sheet, Eterna\u2019s consolidated total assets increased by 23.86% to N114.19 billion as of September 2026, from N92.19 billion in December 2025, largely driven by higher inventories and cash balances.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inventories rose by 18.98% to N68.98 billion from N57.98 billion, while cash and bank balances increased by 223.17% to N15.35 billion from N4.75 billion.<\/li>\n<li>Trade and other receivables declined by 16.40% to N10.77 billion from N12.88 billion.<\/li>\n<li>On the liabilities side, total borrowings declined to N46.75 billion from N69.31 billion, while trade and other payables increased to N28.27 billion from N11.24 billion.<\/li>\n<li>Shareholders\u2019 equity expanded to N32.99 billion from N7.77 billion, supported by the issuance of new shares amounting to N18.97 billion and earnings retained during the period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The cash flow statement showed net cash generated from operating activities of N22.89 billion for the nine months, compared with a net operating cash outflow of N20.10 billion reported for the full year ended December 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The improvement in operating cash generation, alongside reduced borrowings and higher cash balances, indicates a stronger liquidity position at the end of September 2026.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Market reaction<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Eterna Plc closed at N42.75 per share on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, unchanged from its previous closing price on November 2.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The stock has gained 50.00% year-to-date from its opening price of N28.50 at the beginning of 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Month-to-date, the share price remained unchanged at N42.75, compared with its closing price on October 30, 2026.<\/li>\n<li>The stock recorded a gain of 9.90% on October 30, rising from N38.90 to N42.75, although the available information does not establish whether this movement was directly related to the earnings announcement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Over the past three months, Eterna\u2019s share price has gained 29.60%, while its six-month return stood at 18.80%. However, the stock declined by 7.07% over the preceding four weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Nairametrics<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eterna Plc reported a consolidated pre-tax profit of N10.28 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, representing an increase of 635.80% from N1.40 billion recorded in the corresponding&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}