Seplat posts $260m nine-month profit

Seplat Energy Plc, the Nigerian oil and gas producer in which banking tycoon Tony Elumelu is the largest shareholder, posted a profit of $260.2 million for the first nine months of 2026 and raised its quarterly dividend to 19 cents a share.

Net profit for the period to Sept. 30 rose 174% from a year earlier, the Lagos- and London-listed company said in its unaudited results. Revenue climbed 27% to $2.76 billion from $2.18 billion, and profit before tax rose 72% to $982.6 million. Most of the gap between the two profit lines went to the government, with Seplat booking an income tax charge of about $722 million.

In naira, the currency in which it also reports, Seplat earned ₦355.6 billion after tax, up from ₦146.6 billion a year earlier, on revenue of ₦3.78 trillion.

The dividend for the third quarter is made up of a 5-cent interim payout and a 14-cent special payout, and will cost about $114 million. It is up from 12 cents in the second quarter and 7.5 cents a year earlier. Shareholders on the register at the close of business on Nov. 12 will be paid on Nov. 27. The company has now declared 40 cents a share this year and is aiming for 45 cents for the full year, before any extra payout tied to its planned sale of a 10% interest in a joint venture to state oil company NNPC Ltd.

Elumelu’s $1.5 billion stake

Elumelu, 63, is chairman of United Bank for Africa Plc, Transnational Corp. and Heirs Holdings, his family investment company. His Heirs Energies Ltd. bought French oil company Maurel & Prom’s entire 20.07% stake in Seplat in December 2025 for $496 million, making his group the largest shareholder. In September, Heirs Energies bought 6 million more shares, lifting the holding of his companies to 126.4 million shares, or 21.07%.

At Seplat’s price of ₦16,000.10 on the Nigerian Exchange, that stake is worth about ₦2.02 trillion ($1.5 billion), roughly three times what Heirs paid for the bulk of it. The shares have gained about 185% this year, giving Seplat a market value of ₦9.6 trillion ($7.1 billion).

The third-quarter dividend alone will bring Elumelu’s companies about $24 million before tax, based on their disclosed holding. They received about $14.4 million from the second-quarter payout.

Elumelu, a non-executive director, will take over as Seplat’s chairman on Jan. 1, 2027, from Udoma Udo Udoma, a former Nigerian budget minister who is retiring.

Output and debt

Seplat pumped an average of 144,999 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the nine months, a 7% increase, led by its onshore fields. Production in the third quarter averaged more than 155,000 barrels a day. Gas output was helped by the start of the ANOH gas processing plant, which began sending gas to domestic customers through the OB3 pipeline.

The company sold its crude at an average of $100.40 a barrel in the third quarter, about $10 more than the average price of Brent, the global benchmark. “We realised $100.4/bbl in the quarter, a full $10.2/bbl higher than the average Brent price in the period,” said Effiong Okon, who succeeded Roger Brown as chief executive on Aug. 1.

Seplat generated $1.48 billion of cash from operations in the nine months. Net debt fell 65% to $234.9 million from $673.3 million at the end of 2025, and the company had $556.9 million of cash at the end of September.

On Oct. 27, it repaid the last $100 million of the advance payment facility it used to help fund its purchase of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, ExxonMobil’s Nigerian shallow-water business, which it completed in December 2024. The deal more than doubled Seplat’s production and made it one of Nigeria’s largest independent oil producers.