Seven foreign-owned companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange reported N129.4 billion in royalties, licence, technical and management fees paid to their parent groups in the nine months to September 2026, according to their unaudited third-quarter filings. The total was 7.7% higher than the N120.1 billion recorded a year earlier.
The payments are legal and are approved by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), which generally caps such charges as a share of net sales. They arrive, however, as the subsidiaries recover from two years of currency losses that wiped out shareholders' equity at four of them and forced parents to inject fresh capital or forgive loans.
At HBM Nigeria, International Breweries and Nigerian Breweries, fee growth outpaced revenue growth, with International Breweries' fees rising roughly ten times as fast as revenue. At Nestlé Nigeria, fees plus interest on a loan from its Swiss parent exceeded the profit left for all shareholders.
Nestlé Nigeria, 70.81% owned by Switzerland's Société des Produits Nestlé SA, booked N34.8 billion in general licence fees, up from N32.3 billion, and N16.5 billion in shared-service costs from Nestlé Central and West Africa. The combined N51.2 billion equalled about 5.2% of revenue, the highest ratio in the group. The company also paid N58.5 billion in interest on its intercompany loan, which accounts for most of its N426.3 billion in borrowings. Fees and loan interest came to roughly N110 billion, while profit after tax for all shareholders was N103.4 billion. Revenue rose 10.4% to N976.5 billion and pretax profit jumped 52% to N193.9 billion. Chief Executive Wassim Elhusseini called it the company's eighth consecutive quarter of profitability since returning to profit in Q4 2024. Shareholders' equity climbed to N116.3 billion from N12.9 billion in December, after standing at negative N112.1 billion two years ago. Separately, the parent plans to move the Nigerian waters and premium-beverages business into Peranel, a 50-50 joint venture with Platinum Equity, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
HBM Nigeria, the former Lafarge Africa now controlled by China's Huaxin Building Materials, recorded technical service fees of N21.7 billion, up 28%, while revenue rose 19%. The agreement sets the fee at 3% of net sales with a ceiling of 5% of Ebitda. International Breweries, 97.4% held by Anheuser-Busch InBev group companies, paid N11.7 billion in technical management fees, up 23%, against revenue growth of 2.1%. Nigerian Breweries, the Heineken subsidiary, booked N28.9 billion in royalties and technical service fees, up 12%, while revenue grew 5.4% and volumes fell in the third quarter.
