Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals made a net profit of $4.73bn in the nine months to September, implying about $2.9bn in the third quarter alone – more than the $1.82bn it earned in the whole first half. The unaudited results, released on October 13, came a day after the company extended the deadline for what is set to be Africa’s largest share sale.

See IntelliNews: Dangote refinery extends $1.6bn Nigeria IPO to October 27 amid strong demand

Revenue at the privately held Lagos refinery, controlled by Africa’s richest person Aliko Dangote, rose 144% year on year to $22.48bn from $9.19bn, and the company swung to profit from a loss of $117.2mn in the same period of 2025, according to the unaudited results. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $5.52bn from $627.6mn, lifting the EBITDA margin to 24.56% from 6.83%.

Set against the first-half figures, the results imply revenue of about $8.57bn and EBITDA of about $2.92bn in July–September, an EBITDA margin of roughly 34%, compared with about 19% in the first six months of the year.

“Our third-quarter performance demonstrates the successful transition from commissioning and ramp-up activities to sustainable commercial operations,” CEO David Bird said, attributing the improvement to higher throughput, better operational reliability and stronger gross refining margins.

Operating cash flow rose to $3.68bn from $364.7mn a year earlier, and the company moved from net debt of $1.73bn at the end of September 2025 to net cash of $650.8mn, with cash holdings of $6.69bn at the end of September.

The results were published during the refinery’s initial public offering, which seeks about $1.6bn, rising to $2.1bn if an over-allotment option is exercised, through the sale of 4.1bn shares at NGN525 each. The offer values the company at about $47bn.

See IntelliNews: Nigeria clears $1.6bn Dangote Refinery IPO, testing investor appetite at $47bn valuation

On October 12 the company extended the application period, which opened on September 14, from October 13 to October 27 with the approval of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission. It cited strong investor interest across Africa and the need to give investors time to complete account-opening and identity checks.

Company founder Aliko Dangote has said subscriptions already exceed the original fundraising target. Collation of returns is scheduled for November 3, with listing on the Nigerian Exchange expected in November.

East African investors have been offered about 729mn global depositary receipts at KES53.50 each, worth up to KES39bn ($300mn) if fully taken up – almost 19% of the base offer. Access elsewhere is narrower: Ethiopia’s capital markets regulator has limited participation to qualified investors, and Uganda’s to high-net-worth and professional investors.

See IntelliNews: East African investors offered $300mn slice of Nigeria’s Dangote refinery IPO

See IntelliNews: Ethiopia limits Dangote refinery’s $1.6bn IPO to qualified investors

Net proceeds of about $1.55bn would cover roughly 11% of a planned $14.3bn expansion that would double capacity to 1.4mn bpd by 2029 from 700,000 bpd at the plant, which began processing crude in early 2024.

The refinery has benefited this year from disruption to Middle East fuel supplies, which lifted demand for its jet fuel and diesel in Europe and Africa. Aliko Dangote said at the IPO signing in September that the refinery had profited from conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Annualised, the nine-month profit would put the IPO valuation at about 7.5 times earnings. A Reuters Breakingviews column argued the offer price effectively assumes tight diesel and jet fuel markets persist.

Feedstock is a further constraint. Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on October 9 that “today we do not have up to 700,000 free crude to give anyone, including Dangote”. The refinery imports about a fifth of its crude: Nigerian supply accounted for 78.3% of its feedstock in January–August, according to CSL Stockbrokers.

See IntelliNews: Nigeria cannot allocate full 700,000 bpd of uncommitted crude to Dangote refinery, minister says