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Nigerian billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu has once again demonstrated why he is regarded as one of Africa's most astute industrialists. His flagship cement company, BUA Cement Plc, has delivered a landmark financial performance in 2025, posting the highest net profit margin among Nigeria's three major cement producers and establishing itself as the most profitable cement maker in the country by that measure.
The achievement caps what has been a transformative year for the $12.3 billion industrialist, whose BUA Group empire continues to reshape Nigeria's manufacturing landscape.
Record-breaking financial performance
BUA Cement's full-year 2025 audited results tell the story of a company firing on all cylinders. The company reported revenue of N1.18 trillion, crossing the trillion-naira threshold for the first time in its history and marking a 34.6% increase from N876.5 billion recorded in 2024.
But it is the bottom line that truly sets BUA Cement apart. Profit after tax surged an extraordinary 381.7% to N356.03 billion, up from N73.91 billion in 2024. Profit before tax climbed 367% to N465.3 billion from N99.6 billion the previous year. These figures represent BUA Cement's most profitable year since its listing on the Nigerian Exchange in January 2020.
The company's net profit margin of 30.43% in 2025, a dramatic recovery from 8.33% in 2024, places it ahead of industry peers Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa on this critical measure of profitability. Operating profit more than tripled to N504.55 billion from N144.30 billion, while earnings per share jumped to N10.51 from N2.18 the previous year.
In recognition of the outstanding performance, BUA Cement's board recommended a dividend of N10.00 per ordinary share, nearly five times the N2.05 per share declared in 2024, a clear signal that operational excellence is translating into tangible returns for shareholders.
Abdulsamad Rabiu: The visionary behind BUA Cement's rise
The story of BUA Cement's ascent is inseparable from the vision and execution of its founder and chairman, Abdulsamad Rabiu. Born on August 4, 1960, in Kano, northern Nigeria, Rabiu studied Economics at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, before returning to Nigeria at age 24 to take over the family business during a turbulent period marked by his father's detention under military rule.
In 1988, Rabiu established BUA International Limited, initially focusing on commodity trading. His entry into the cement business came in 2008, when the Nigerian government, under the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, invited companies from each of Nigeria's six geopolitical zones to participate in expanding the country's cement production capacity. At the time, Nigeria was producing only three to four million tonnes of cement annually, meeting barely half of domestic demand.
By Rabiu's own admission, he had no prior knowledge of the cement business when the invitation came. Yet what followed was one of the most remarkable industrial growth stories in African business history. BUA Group acquired an interest in Edo Cement Company in 2009, commissioned a new plant at Obu in 2014, merged the Edo operations with the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria to form BUA Cement in 2019, and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in January 2020 with a market capitalisation of $3.2 billion.
Today, BUA Cement operates plants in Edo and Sokoto states with a combined installed production capacity of over 17 million metric tonnes per annum, making it Nigeria's second-largest cement producer. The company has grown its market share from 2% to over 30% within eight years, an achievement that speaks to both the quality of its products and the effectiveness of its distribution strategy.
Rabiu's personal wealth has reflected this corporate success. His net worth surged by over $7 billion in 2025, climbing from approximately $5.1 billion at the start of the year to an estimated $12.3 billion by February 2026, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BUA Cement shares rose 91.94% in 2025, adding roughly N2.83 trillion to Rabiu's holdings, while BUA Foods, his other flagship listed company, climbed 92.51%. The twin surges made Rabiu the clear standout beneficiary of the year's stock market momentum on the Nigerian Exchange, surpassing even Aliko Dangote in annual gains from listed equities.
