Uganda's Quality Chemical posts record $15.3 million profit as new manufacturing plant takes shape

Quality Chemical Industries Limited, Uganda's largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has posted record full-year earnings of Shs 56.4 billion (approximately $15.3 million) for the financial year ended March 31, 2026, a 39 percent jump on the prior year, as the Luzira-based company sustained strong momentum from operational efficiencies and a growing pan-African product portfolio.

The result marks another leg of a sustained earnings recovery for the company, which trades on the Uganda Securities Exchange under the ticker QCIL. In the financial year ended March 2025, QCIL posted net profit of Shs 40.7 billion (approximately $11 million), itself a 22 to 28 percent improvement on the year before, depending on the measurement base used. The full-year FY2026 result represents the group's highest ever annual earnings.

Emmanuel Katongole, the company's executive chairman and co-founder, has attributed the sustained improvement to tighter cost management, improved gross margins and a disciplined approach to product mix. "These results highlight our focus on sustainable value creation through efficiency, innovation, and cost leadership," Katongole and chief executive Ajay Kumar Pal said in a joint statement covering the company's recent performance.

Gross profit margins have improved significantly over the past two years. In the first half of the FY2026 financial year, the six months to September 30, 2025, QCIL reported a gross margin of 42.4 percent, up from 38.6 percent in the same period a year earlier, despite a slight dip in revenue to Shs 148.2 billion (approximately $40.3 million) from Shs 152.2 billion, partly attributed to appreciation of the Ugandan shilling against the US dollar, which compresses the local currency value of foreign-denominated revenues.

QCIL is Africa's largest producer of World Health Organisation-prequalified antiretrovirals and antimalarial treatments, manufacturing approximately 1.4 billion tablets annually at its Luzira industrial park in Kampala. The company has regulatory approval in 31 African countries and active trade relationships across 13. It supplies HIV, malaria, hepatitis and tuberculosis medications to national health programs across Uganda and the broader region, with institutional customers including international health bodies.

The company has been expanding its therapeutic portfolio aggressively. In the first half of FY2026 alone, QCIL launched 16 new pharmaceutical products, spanning anti-malarials, anti-diabetics, anti-hypertensives, antibiotics, anti-fungals and anti-allergics, part of a deliberate effort to reduce dependence on its core HIV and malaria lines and move deeper into non-communicable disease treatments.

The expansion is also physical. Construction has commenced on a second manufacturing facility at the Luzira complex, funded in part by a $36 million loan facility the company secured in mid-2025. The new plant, which will feature a modern injectable production line and tuberculosis treatment capabilities, is expected to double annual production capacity to 2.4 billion tablets once fully operational. The project is central to QCIL's ambition to position Uganda as a self-sufficient pharmaceutical manufacturer at continental scale, reducing dependence on imported generic drugs for the region's most prevalent diseases.

QCIL's share price has performed well in 2026. The stock opened the year at UGX 116 (approximately $0.031) and had risen to UGX 142 ($0.038) by late May, a gain of 22.4 percent year to date, ranking it fifth among performers on the Uganda Securities Exchange in 2026.

The company's board has continued to grow dividend distributions alongside profits. Total dividends paid for FY2025 reached Shs 13.5 per share, more than double the Shs 5.7 per share paid the previous year. Interim dividends for FY2026 have also exceeded prior year levels, with a Shs 6.0 per share interim dividend declared in February 2026, up from Shs 4.2 in November 2025.

QCIL was established in 2005 and renamed from Cipla Quality Chemical Industries in February 2024 following Africa Capitalworks' acquisition of Cipla's 51.18 percent controlling stake. Katongole, who co-founded the company alongside the broader Capitalworks ecosystem, serves as executive chairman and has led the company's transition into a fully Africa-owned manufacturing operation with regional supply ambitions.