Business
VFD Group posts twofold jump in half-year profit amid higher investment income
Investment company VFD Group recorded a twofold increase in net profit for the first half of the year, supported by a significant improvement in investment income, its unaudited report for the period issued Friday showed.
VFD Group is proprietary and investment-focused, meaning it invests in target companies for direct market gain, unlike investment banks, which invest on behalf of others.
It has investments in companies as diverse as the Nigerian Exchange Group, Veritas Kapital Assurance, NASD Plc and CSCS Plc, according to information on its website.
Revenue advanced to N53.7 billion from N41.2 billion a year ago, deriving strength largely from investment income, which was up by 102.8 per cent. Net investment income expanded by 19.8 per cent to N42 billion from N35 billion.
The company logged a sharp increase in other income, which surged more than sevenfold to N3.8 billion after earning N3.9 billion in fair value gain in investment property, unlike a year earlier when no such income was recorded.
It cut back provision for impairment of financial assets, especially loans and advances, by nearly half to N657.5 million.
“The first half of 2026 performance demonstrates the value of disciplined execution in a market that continues to reward thoughtful execution,” said Managing Director Nonso Okpala in a statement.
“Profit grew more than three times faster than revenue because we remain focused on deploying capital only where risk-adjusted returns justify,” he added.
The company earned N79.1 million in share of profit from associate, compared to N22 million one year prior, boosting pre-tax profit.
EBIT margin, a parameter that gauges the operating profitability of a company, stood at 62.5 per cent, slightly weaker than the 66 per cent recorded in the same period of 2025.
Profit before tax climbed 98.4 per cent to N12 billion, while after-tax profit increased to N10.1 billion from N5 billion.
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In a separate announcement on Friday, the board of directors declared an interim dividend of N0.24 per share, translating into a potential payout of N3 billion.
“We enter the second half of the year with the strongest capital position in the group’s history, a materially lower cost of funding, and a portfolio of high-quality earning assets,” Folajimi Adeleye, the executive director for finance, said.
“Our priority now is straightforward: ensuring that every naira of new capital consistently generates returns that exceed the cost of the debt it replaced,” he said further.
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The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has urged investors to take advantage of Nigeria’s 2026 oil and gas licensing round, highlighting the country’s improving investment climate amid growing global energy uncertainties.
The Commission Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, made the call on Monday during a roundtable discussion titled ‘Energy Sovereignty in an Interconnected World: Aligning National Priorities, Markets and Global Security’, at the 2026 ADIPEC Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Ms Eyesan told investors that Nigeria offers a stable investment environment and announced that the licensing round portal would officially open on 20 November 2026.
She urged prospective investors to explore the opportunities presented by the 2026 Licensing Round, which offers 40 oil and gas blocks.
“We are expecting investors to turn to Nigeria. We are going into another licensing round, and we will launch our bid portal on November 20. We expect to see interested investors because the environment is a lot more competitive,” she said.
“We have set a very attractive fiscal framework for investors. The overall environment is much more secure. We have been able to manage costs with a lot of incentives for investors, and we expect to see investors take up the offer when we open the portal.”
The NUPRC chief executive said Nigeria’s investment climate had improved following the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021 and the executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu.
According to her, between 2021 and 2026, the commission conducted at least four successful licensing rounds, attracting additional investments into the country.
She said this represented a departure from the pre-PIA era, when licensing rounds were less frequent.
Ms Eyesan also highlighted Nigeria’s enormous gas potential, noting that the country holds an estimated 215 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves but produces barely seven billion cubic feet (bcf) daily.
She said the gap between available reserves and current production presented significant opportunities for investors, particularly with major gas infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
“The stars are already aligned. For gas infrastructure, we just completed very major infrastructure projects that will unlock gas supply in the country and the sub-region.
“We talk about two major projects on the drawing board to move gas through the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline. Again, this gas will go to Europe and will also meet regional demand. So, Nigeria is positioned to meet not just domestic supply,” the NUPRC chief executive said.
Ms Eyesan maintained that competition for investment in the global petroleum industry had intensified as more countries discovered oil and gas resources.
She said Nigeria had taken steps to position itself ahead of the competition by introducing reforms and making adjustments to attract the right category of investment.
“We understand that investors will prize execution risk, cost, delays and also uncertainty, and so what we have done in Nigeria is to ensure that we guard against these risks and then attract the investment required to enable us to unlock the huge resources we sit on,” she said.
2026 Licensing Round
On 7 October, the NUPRC announced the 2026 Licensing Round, offering 40 oil and gas blocks to prospective investors.
The announcement came less than three months after the commission concluded the bidding programme for its 2025 licensing round.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that 31 companies emerged as winners of 37 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round after the commercial bid conference held in Abuja in July.
The bidding process, conducted at the Transcorp Event Centre, attracted 143 companies, which submitted about 200 bids for 37 of the 50 oil and gas blocks offered by the commission.
The blocks span several terrains, including the Niger Delta onshore, shallow-water and deep-offshore areas, as well as the Benin, Anambra and Chad basins and the Benue Trough.
While 37 blocks attracted bids, the remaining 13 received no offers.
The NUPRC described the outcome as significant, noting that it was the first time Nigeria’s frontier basins, including the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Anambra Basin and Benin Basin, had attracted such strong investor interest.
Following the 2025 licensing round, the commission also outlined plans to increase crude oil production by restoring more than 788,000 barrels per day of shut-in production and advancing offshore projects valued at an estimated $30 billion to $50 billion towards final investment decisions.
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