Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the country’s largest construction firm, delivered a paradoxical 2025 performance, reporting a 107% surge in net profit while simultaneously booking a massive net loss in its total comprehensive income.
While the group’s core engineering and civil works business generated ₦31.1 billion in after-tax profit, the gain was more than offset by a ₦46.9 billion tax-related hit and a sharp reversal in currency translation gains.
The results highlight a construction giant firing on all cylinders operationally—driven by a ₦597 billion government contract pipeline—while struggling to insulate its equity from the volatility of foreign operations.
Operational Surge: Government Contracts Drive ₦760bn Revenue
The group’s top-line growth reflects a significant ramp-up in infrastructure spending across its primary markets:
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The Public Sector Engine: Revenue rose 34.3% to ₦760.6 billion, with government projects accounting for a dominant 78.5% (₦597 billion) of total sales.
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Civil Works Lead: Civil engineering remained the cornerstone of the business, generating ₦431.86 billion, followed by building works at ₦192.25 billion and the group’s nascent diversification arm at ₦17.87 billion.
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Margin Efficiency: Gross profit spiked to ₦119.56 billion as revenue growth outpaced a 29% increase in the cost of sales, showing strong project management despite inflationary pressures.
The OCI Trap: Currency and Tax Reversals
The “Other Comprehensive Income” (OCI) segment of the balance sheet told a far darker story than the P&L:
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Translation Pivot: The group booked an exchange loss on translation of foreign operations of ₦39.7 billion, a dramatic swing from the ₦46 billion gain recorded in 2024.
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Comprehensive Loss: When combined with a ₦46.95 billion negative tax-related adjustment, the group’s Total Comprehensive Income plummeted to a loss of ₦35.8 billion.
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Impairment Watch: Gross profit was further pressured by a ₦33.2 billion impairment on trade receivables, a 232% increase that suggests growing difficulty in collecting payments from certain project clients.
Geographical Footprint: Africa Remains the Core
Julius Berger continues to lean heavily on its regional dominance:
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Market Concentration: Africa (primarily Nigeria) accounted for 93.6% (₦712.2 billion) of revenue, while European operations contributed a modest ₦48.4 billion.
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Diversification Strategy: While still a small fraction of the whole, the ₦17.87 billion from “diversification” activities signals the group’s ongoing effort to move beyond pure-play construction into sectors like agro-processing and regional markets.
Julius Berger Nigeria Pic has four core business segments, civil engineering – encompassing infrastructure and related construction projects within Nigeria; Building involving residential, commercial. and industrial building projects within Nigeria, services, provided to third parties in Nigeria and in Europe and Diversification which comprises of the business unit Cashew Processing in Epe, Lagos and the Groups expanded Construction Business into new regional Markets.
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