Dangote refinery turns a $4.7bn profit as Africans line up to own a share

For years the Dangote refinery was Nigeria's most-watched building site: a steel city rising out of reclaimed land at Lekki, east of Lagos, with a price tag that kept climbing and an opening date that kept slipping. This month it handed in a very different report card. In the first nine months of 2026 it made a net profit of $4.73 billion, against a loss of $117.2 million a year earlier, according to unaudited results released on 13 October.

The timing is no accident. The figures landed in the middle of the refinery's first public share offer, which Aliko Dangote has described as an "IPO for the people", and which Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission has now allowed to stay open until 27 October.

• $4.73bnnet profit, January to September 2026
• $22.48bnrevenue, up from $9.19bn a year earlier
• 700,000barrels of crude a day at full capacity
• ₦5,250the smallest stake: 10 shares at ₦525

From building site to money-maker

Behind the headline number is a plant that has finally stopped commissioning and started running. Revenue more than doubled to $22.48 billion. Earnings before interest, tax and depreciation rose almost ninefold, from $627.6 million to $5.52 billion, and the company says it moved from net debt of $1.73 billion a year ago to roughly $651 million of net cash by the end of September, with operating cash flow of $3.68 billion.

For ordinary Nigerians, the change shows up at the pump. The refinery began producing diesel and aviation fuel in January 2024 and petrol that September, cutting the country's reliance on imported fuel, and it reached full capacity in February this year.

1. 2013Aliko Dangote unveils plans for a giant private refinery, then expected to open in 2016.
2. May 2023The refinery is officially commissioned.
3. Jan 2024Diesel and aviation fuel production begins; petrol follows in September 2024.
4. Feb 2026The plant reaches full refining capacity.
5. 14 Sep 2026The share offer opens at the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos.
6. 27 Oct 2026The extended offer closes.

A share sale built for small savers

The offer is for 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 each, worth about ₦2.15 trillion, or roughly $1.6 billion, if every share is taken up. That makes it one of the largest share sales Africa has seen. What sets it apart is how low the door has been set: the minimum application is just 10 shares, ₦5,250, and retail investors have been able to apply through bank apps, stockbroking portals and subscription forms.

Dangote has been clear that the point is ownership as much as money. He has said the aim was to let more Africans own part of the refinery rather than simply to raise capital, and the company says it asked for the extra two weeks because investors from across the continent wanted time to take part. Its finance chief, Murat Erden, went further in a statement on 18 October.

This offering represents far more than a capital-raising exercise.

Murat Erden, chief financial officer, Dangote Group

Worth knowing before you buy

• The nine-month figures are unaudited; the full-year accounts will come later.
• Refining is a cyclical business: profits rise and fall with crude prices, fuel prices and how hard the plant can run.
• If you apply from abroad, use a bank, stockbroker or app registered with Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission, and never pay anyone by personal transfer.