Billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu's BUA Foods embarks on largest expansion in company history

BUA Foods is undertaking the most ambitious investment programme since its founding, a build-out that its chairman, Nigerian billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu, says will make it the largest food manufacturer in the country by next year.

The expansion spans several categories at once. It includes a substantial increase in wheat milling capacity, the completion of the company's edible oils business, continued investment across its integrated manufacturing operations, and an entry into the noodles market, a segment BUA has not previously contested.

Rabiu framed the programme as a bet on scale rather than growth for its own sake. "By next year, when our current projects are completed, BUA will become the largest player in our sector in Nigeria," he told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Abuja. "We are not pursuing growth simply for the sake of becoming bigger. We are pursuing growth because scale matters in an industry like ours."

The company has cast the investment as a contribution to national food security, arguing that the projects will lift local production of staple foods, strengthen supply chains, reduce import dependence and support Nigeria's self-sufficiency goals. Rabiu said a more competitive market would benefit consumers through lower prices, and argued that Nigeria gains when indigenous companies can challenge established players at the highest level.

The move into noodles is the most direct challenge to incumbents. Instant noodles rank among the most heavily consumed packaged foods in Nigeria, a market long dominated by established manufacturers, and entering it would extend BUA Foods beyond its existing lines in sugar, flour, pasta, rice and edible oils. The wheat milling expansion places it in more direct competition with Flour Mills of Nigeria, while the edible oils completion deepens its position in a segment with heavy domestic demand.

The spending is being funded from a business coming off its strongest year. BUA Foods reported revenue of N1.77 trillion for 2025, about $1.27 billion, up 16%, with profit after tax surging 95% to N518.4 billion, roughly $373 million. Gross profit rose to N737.26 billion from N540.82 billion, earnings per share climbed to N28.80 from N14.78, and total assets grew 27% to N1.39 trillion.

Shareholders approved a final dividend of N28 per share at the meeting, totalling about $363 million (N504 billion), a 115% increase on the N13 paid for 2024 and among the largest payouts declared by any company listed on the Nigerian Exchange. The company has lifted its dividend sharply over three years, from N5.50 a share for 2023.

Rabiu is the principal beneficiary of both the dividend and any increase in the company's value. He holds about 16.17 billion shares, roughly 90% of BUA Foods, through BUA Group, giving him a gross share of the latest distribution of about $323 million.

The company attributed its 2025 performance to sustained demand across its core segments alongside improved operational efficiency, optimised cost structures and tighter supply chain management. Sugar and bakery flour remained the largest revenue drivers, together with pasta, as Nigerian consumers continued buying staple foods through a period of high inflation and a weakened naira.

Rabiu built BUA Group over more than three decades into one of Nigeria's largest industrial groups, spanning sugar refining, cement, flour milling and real estate. He began trading commodities in the 1980s after taking over from his father, the businessman Isyaku Rabiu, moved into manufacturing, and listed BUA Cement and later BUA Foods on the Nigerian Exchange. He ranks among Africa's wealthiest people, and BUA Foods has become the most valuable part of the group.

Execution is now the variable. The company is pursuing several large projects simultaneously, in a market where input costs, foreign exchange availability and consumer purchasing power have all proved volatile. Rabiu said efficiency, transparency and disciplined management would remain the guiding principles, the same approach, he said, that built the business when it was the smallest major player in its sector.

The projects are due to come on stream next year, the point at which he expects BUA Foods to claim the top position in Nigerian food manufacturing.