Something unusual showed up in BUA Cement’s first-quarter filing for 2026, buried several pages past the profit headlines that grabbed most of the coverage.

Finance income, the interest earned on cash holdings and short-term deposits, surged 638% in a single quarter. That line moved from ₦1.53 billion in Q1 2025 to ₦11.28 billion in Q1 2026, according to BUA Cement’s unaudited financial statements filed with the Nigerian Exchange.

The jump happened because BUA Cement is sitting on far more cash than it held a year ago, and it is putting that pile to work.

BUA Cement’s cash pile nearly doubled, and the interest followed

The company ended March 2026 holding ₦404 billion in cash and short-term deposits, up from ₦280.4 billion three months earlier and far above the ₦84.7 billion it held at the start of 2025, the filing showed.

Finance income alone covered nearly all of the company’s ₦11.1 billion in finance costs, producing a net finance gain of ₦162 million versus a net finance cost of ₦17.8 billion in Q1 2025, the filing showed.

That swing is one of the largest single-line contributors to BUA Cement’s Q1 profit expansion, reflecting a company that moved from burning cash on debt service to earning income from its own liquidity.

How BUA Cement built a ₦404 billion cash war chest

The cash accumulation traces back to a breakout 2025. Revenue crossed the trillion-naira mark for the first time at ₦1.18 trillion, up 35% from 2024, while profit after tax soared 382% to ₦356 billion, Nairametrics reported.

Total bank loans fell to ₦443.5 billion from ₦469.4 billion at year-end. TRW Stockbrokers calculated that the net debt-to-equity ratio tightened to 0.39x from 0.57x, the firm noted in its Q1 analysis. Interest expense on bank loans dropped to ₦10 billion from nearly ₦15 billion a year earlier, the filing showed.

BUA Cement’s Q1 2026 profit picture beyond finance income

Revenue climbed 22% to ₦355 billion while cost of sales barely moved, rising just 0.7% to ₦153.1 billion. That gap pushed gross margins to 56.9% from 47.7%, a 917-basis-point expansion, Ecofin Agency reported. The company also booked a ₦13 billion net foreign exchange gain, reversing a ₦837 million FX loss from Q1 2025.

“It is encouraging to see our results and organizational transformation aligning so well. Revenue growth remained strong as we continue to meet cement demand, including in the bulk segment.” — Yusuf Binji, Managing Director, BUA Cement, in the company’s Q1 2026 earnings statement.

Key figures from BUA Cement’s Q1 2026 filing

• Revenue: ₦354.98 billion, up 22% from ₦290.82 billion (Source: BUA Cement Q1 2026 filing, NGX)
• Profit after tax: ₦176.38 billion, up 117% from ₦81.12 billion (Source: BUA Cement Q1 2026 filing, NGX)
• Finance income: ₦11.28 billion, up 638% from ₦1.53 billion (Source: BUA Cement Q1 2026 filing, NGX)
• Cash and short-term deposits: ₦404.05 billion, up 44% from ₦280.38 billion at year-end 2025 (Source: BUA Cement Q1 2026 filing, NGX)
• Earnings per share: 520.83 kobo, up from 239.56 kobo in Q1 2025 (Source: BUA Cement Q1 2026 filing, NGX)
• Net profit margin: 49.7%, up from 27.9% in Q1 2025 (Source: TRW Stockbrokers Q1 2026 analysis)

BUA Cement’s share price and dividend context for investors

The stock ended Q1 at ₦326.70, nearly four times its ₦83.70 price from a year earlier, the filing disclosed. The board approved a final dividend of ₦10 per share for 2025, up from ₦2.05 in the prior year, with payment scheduled for May 21, 2026, Nairametrics reported.

Whether BUA Cement can sustain 638% finance income growth

The 638% jump is unlikely to repeat at the same scale because the comparison base will normalize as 2025’s cash buildup becomes the new starting point.

BUA Cement generated ₦180 billion in operating cash flow during Q1 2026 alone, while spending ₦42.1 billion on capital expenditure and ₦22.9 billion on debt repayment, the filing showed. Binji indicated that the benefits of a strategic overhaul launched in mid-2025 should be fully visible in the current fiscal year and sustained beyond it.