Aradel Holdings Plc delivered exceptional financial performance in the first quarter of 2026, with revenue soaring 264.5 per cent year-on-year to N728.5 billion—already surpassing the company’s entire 2025 revenue of N699 billion.
Gas Sales Drive Revenue Growth
The surge was driven by an extraordinary increase in gas sales, which jumped more than 42-fold to nearly N188 billion. This first-quarter figure is already about four times the full-year gas sales of N48.6 billion recorded in 2025. As a result, gas sales have risen from a distant third to become the company’s second-largest revenue source, overtaking refined product sales. Gas contributed roughly 26 per cent to total turnover in Q1 2026, up from just 2.2 per cent in the same period last year.
The growth reflects significant price increases due to disrupted global oil and gas supply following the US-Iran conflict, positioning Nigeria—and Aradel—among the beneficiaries.
Crude Oil Remains Top Earner; Refined Products Lag
Crude oil sales remain Aradel’s largest revenue driver, also benefiting from global supply disruptions and price hikes. Crude export revenue rose 241 per cent year-on-year to N484.6 billion in the first quarter. In contrast, sales of refined products grew by only 5 per cent to N56 billion. The contribution of refined products to total turnover has dropped sharply from over 30 per cent in 2025 to just 7.7 per cent so far this year.
Other Income, Rising Costs, and Profitability
Other income provided further support, multiplying more than 340 times year-on-year to about N209 billion, mainly from crude handling, overlift earnings, and exchange gains—none of which were recorded a year earlier. This strong inflow helped offset surging costs, including Cost of Sales rose 290 per cent to over N472 billion, outpacing revenue growth and limiting gross profit growth to 225 per cent (N256 billion).
Administrative Expenses also increased nearly sixfold to over N92 billion while Finance Costs multiplied nearly 19 times to about N102 billion.
Despite these pressures, operating profit surged nearly six times to N373 billion. Pre-tax profit reached about N284 billion, more than quadrupling the N67 billion posted in Q1 2025. However, income tax expenses soared fivefold to N163.5 billion, moderating the increase in after-tax profit to 252% and closing at just over N120 billion. Earnings per share stood at N15.24, up from N7.77 a year ago.
Outlook
Aradel Holdings expects to maintain or even improve this robust operating momentum in subsequent quarters. However, exceptional gains from bargain purchases and translation gains that boosted 2025 results are not expected to recur this year.
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