The improvement suggests that the sector’s earnings growth is increasingly being driven not only by higher selling prices and revenue expansion but also by better conversion of sales into bottom-line earnings.
May and Baker, however, stood out. The company’s net profit climbed to N3.20 billion in H1 2026 from N2.19 billion in H1 2025, representing an increase of about 46 percent. This was achieved despite a marginal decline in revenue to N19.28 billion from N19.28 billion in the same period of 2025.
As a result, its profit margin expanded to 16.59 percent from 11.34 percent, a gain of about 5.25 percentage points. This makes May and Baker’s performance particularly significant because its profitability improvement was not primarily the result of revenue expansion. Rather, the company was able to generate substantially more profit from almost the same level of sales.
The result also means that May and Baker’s margin is now well ahead of the 10.24 percent combined margin of the five pharmaceutical companies.
Fidson Healthcare ranked second, with a net profit margin of 10.37 percent; the company remains the largest revenue generator among the companies analysed, but its profitability improvement has been less dramatic than May and Baker’s.
The company’s revenue increased 18.9 percent year-on-year to N74.48 billion in H1 2026 from N62.64 billion in H1 2025. Net income increased by 28.1 percent to N7.72 billion from N6.03 billion.
The faster growth in profit than revenue helped Fidson’s net margin improve to 10.37 percent from 9.62 percent. Fidson’s margin recovery is notable given the company’s sharp deterioration in profitability between H1 2022 and H1 2024.
Its net margin fell from 13.26 percent in H1 2022 to 10.84 percent in H1 2023 and then to just 4.06 percent in H1 2024. The recovery to 9.62 percent in H1 2025 and 10.37 percent in H1 2026 indicates that the company has regained a significant portion of its lost profitability.
However, it remains below the 13.26 percent margin recorded four years earlier.
MeCure Industries ranked third, with its net profit margin improving modestly to 7.76 percent from the previous year. Revenue increased to N44.5 billion, from N37.26 billion in H1 2025, while net profit rose to N3.48 billion, compared with N2.73 billion a year earlier. Despite the improvement, finance costs remained a significant constraint on the company’s ability to convert its higher revenue into profit.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, recorded a net profit margin of 5.65 percent in H1 2026. Although the company remained profitable, its margin was below the 6.78 percent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, indicating that its earnings growth did not keep pace with its revenue performance.
At the bottom of the sector was Morison Industries, which moved in the opposite direction from its peers. The company recorded revenue of N272.08 million in the first half of 2026 but posted a net loss of N10.28 million, as rising costs eroded its earnings and pushed it into the red.