Despite the economic difficulties created by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, and three other companies have earned their positions in the trillion-naira revenue club of listed corporations.

The year 2022 proved difficult for companies in Africa’s largest economy; a rise in diesel prices since the beginning of the year, combined with foreign exchange scarcity and high input costs due to a war in East Europe, drove some to close shop, while others struggled to stay afloat.

Nonetheless, research revealed that some enterprises are overcoming the odds by tightening their belts, implementing cost-cutting methods, and developing innovative solutions to traverse Nigeria’s difficult macroeconomic climate.

MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Access Holdings Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated are the only companies that have crossed the trillion-naira revenue threshold in 2022, according to a BusinessDay analysis of the top 30 companies on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), popularly known as the ‘NGX30′.

These enterprises’ aggregate revenue increased by 24.72 percent to N7.21 trillion in 2022 from N5.78 trillion in 2021.

Company analysis

Access Holdings

Access Holdings is the newest member of Nigeria’s trillion-naira revenue club, reporting a 43 percent growth in 2022 gross earnings to N1.39 trillion from N971.89 billion in 2021, owing to a 528.19 percent increase in net gains on investment securities.

Net profits on financial instruments at fair value increased by 7,917 percent in 2022, rising from N44.78 billion in 2021 to N281 billion in 2022.

The tier-one bank also recorded an increase in interest income of 37.53 percent to N827.47 billion in 2022 from N601.65 billion in 2021. Interest income increased due to a 22.6 percent increase in interest income on net customer loans and a 64 percent increase in interest income on investment securities.

Fee and commission income increased by 24.33 percent to N197.59 billion in 2022 from N159.92 billion in 2021, thanks to an increase in credit-related fees and commission of 108.7 percent, commission on bills and letters of credit of 27.6 percent, and account maintenance charge and handling commission of 15 percent.

MTN Nigeria Limited

MTN Nigeria reported a 21.82 percent increase in overall income to N2.01 trillion in 2022, up from N1.65 trillion in 2021, due to an increase in service revenue.

“Our strong commercial momentum, supported by an accelerated investment in our network, enabled growth across all revenue lines. As a result,” Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, said in their latest earnings report.

“Our ability to maintain service revenue growth while unlocking efficiencies through disciplined execution of our expense efficiency programme led to a 22.0 percent growth in EBITDA and a 0.2pp expansion in EBITDA margin to 53.2 percent, in line with our medium-term target range,” Toriola said.

Service revenue grew by 21.5 percent to N2.01 trillion due to a 64 percent increase in digital revenue, and 46.9 percent increase in data revenue.

MTN Nigeria said: “Data revenue rose on the sustained growth of our active data users and increased data usage. This was supported by our 4G network expansion drive and enhanced quality and capacity of the network to support the rising data traffic. Our 4G network now covers 79.1 percent of the population, up from 70.3 percent in December 2021.”

“Data traffic rose by 66.6 percent, of which 79.5 percent was carried on the 4G network. Usage (MB per user) grew by 47.4 percent. In addition, we added over 5.5 million new smartphones to our network in 2022, bringing smartphone penetration to 52.4 percent.”

The telecommunications company said its digital revenue increased as user acceptance of its digital products increased due to user journey optimization and an increase in the active base, which increased 37.5 percent to 10.3 million.

“Rich media services, mobile advertising and content VAS, continue to drive revenue growth. Our instant messaging platform, ayoba, accounted for half of our active users,” MTN said.

Dangote Cement Company

Nigeria’s largest cement maker, Dangote Cement, saw its revenue increase by 17.39 percent in 2022 to N1.62 trillion from N1.38 trillion in 2021.

“Group revenues increased largely due to better price realisation to offset rising costs”, the cement maker said in a note seen by BusinessDay.

Volumes fell 5.1 percent to 27.67Mt in 2022 from 29.27Mt in 2021, but prices grew 23.30 percent to N58,282 in 2022 from N47,270 in 2021.

“The lower volume, elevated by the high base of 2021, was due to inflation and energy supply disruptions, and Pan-Africa volumes down owing to extended plant maintenance in Senegal and Congo and volatility in cement/clinker landing costs in Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra-Leone,” the company said.

Flour Mills Nigeria

FMN’s income reached N1.11 trillion in the nine-month period of 2023 (9M’2023), a 35 percent increase over the N825 billion reported in the same period of 2022.

“Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc in 9M’2023 achieved over a trillion naira (N1.114 trillion) revenue for the first time, demonstrating sustained momentum across all business segments compared to the previous year (N825 billion),” the company said.

Total revenue reported increased as a result of an increase across all reportable sectors of the corporation, with food revenue accounting for 65 percent of total revenue.

It increased by 35.5 percent to N724 billion in 9M’2023 from N534 billion in 9M’2022, owing to a “continued focus on retail expansion and proactive pricing to cushion steep input costs,” according to the FMN.

It also reported a 38.88 percent increase in its agro-allied revenue-generating segment, rising to N218 billion in 9M’2023 from N157 billion in 9M’2022, driven by strong performance across all categories.

The company said in a statement: “The fertiliser business recorded a 64 percent growth in revenues and 82 percent profit growth driven by the commissioning of a new fertilizer blending plant in May 2022. The oils and fat business grew by 54 percent driven by increased volumes due to intensified milling activities while the animal feeds business reported 20 percent topline growth owing to increased product availability.

“Golden Sugar recorded an impressive 34 percent revenue growth; this was achieved due to increased volumes, various customer engagement, and popularity of our locally produced brown sugar.”

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

Ecobank’s gross earnings increased by 12.97 percent to N1.08 trillion in 2022, up from N956 billion in 2021.

Interest income increased by 14% in 2022 to N690 billion, up from N603 billion in 2021, while fees and commission income increased by 11% to N227.8 billion in 2022, up from N205 billion in 2021.

In addition, the bank earned N133 billion in revenue trading in 2022, a 10% increase from N121 billion in 2021, and N5.65 billion in net investment income.

“Net revenue rose 6 percent or 26 percent in constant currency to $1.9 billion, reflecting diversification benefits, growth momentum, and efficiency gains, which led to solid growth in net interest income and non-interest revenue. Payments revenues grew $25 million or 12 percent to $234 million (representing 13 percent of Group net revenues), driven by merchant acquiring, cards, and wholesale payments. Record cost-to-income ratio of 56.4 percent benefited from solid revenue growth and disciplined cost management in an inflationary environment,” Ecobank said in an earnings release statement.