Prime Business Africa
The burden of debt on Legend Internet’s finances is rising as the company turns to bank loans and commercial papers to make funds available for its operations amid a decline in revenue.
Legend Internet, an internet provider, uses a fiscal financial period that starts from February 1 of the previous year and ends on January 31 of the current year, while the half-year period starts in August.
Between August 2025 and January 2026, Legend Internet recorded N505.36 million as revenue, failing to replicate or surpass the N622.63 million turnover generated in the same six months between 2024 and 2025.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to the company’s financial statement for the six-month period that ended on August 31, the revenue fell by 18.83 percent during the period under review, higher than the 13.69 percent decline in cost of sales.
Legend Internet incurred N182.37 million as cost of sales between August and January of 2026, compared to the N211.3 million sustained in the corresponding period the previous year.
This impacted the network provider’s gross profit, which decreased to N322.9 million during the period under review, from the N411.32 million in the second half ended January last year.
Despite gross profit decreasing by 21.47 percent year-on-year, administrative expenses soared by 174.38 percent, according to Prime Business Africa’s (PBA) analysis, to N457.62 million, from N166.78 million.
The decline in topline and surge in expenses resulted in an operating loss of N134.63 million between August 2025 and January 2026, indicating Legend Internet failed to repeat the N244.54 million operating profit achieved in the same period the year before.
Prime Business Africa gathered that the distress on Legend Internet’s financials was worsened by a 1,278.77 percent year-on-year increase in finance cost, which rose to N64.7 million, from N4.69 million.
Consequently, Legend Internet closed the period under review with a pretax loss of N199.33 million, failing to reproduce the N238.85 million profit before tax recorded within the second half period that ended in January 2025.
Following the loss, Legend Internet did not pay taxes to the government.
A broader look at Legend Internet’s financials showed that as revenue was declining, the loan burden on the finances was increasing, with the company reporting N564.88 million in loans between August 2025 and January 2026.
This is significantly higher than the N75.23 million recorded between February 2025 and July 2025, representing an increase of 650.84 percent, according to Prime Business Africa’s analysis.
Between August 2025 and January 2026, the loan obtained was mostly from commercial papers and bank loans, with the former accounting for 95.23 percent, and the latter 4.76 percent.
However, between February 2025 and July 2025, bank overdrafts accounted for 65.62 percent and bank loans contributed 34.37 percent.
The surge in Legend Internet’s loan led to the company’s total liabilities rising by 143.32 percent to N903.91 million between August 2025 and January 2026, from N371.47 million between February and July 2025.
While total liabilities increased threefold, total assets rose by merely 7.54 percent year-on-year, from N3.21 billion to N3.45 billion.
With the company unable to increase its earnings or grow its profit, retained earnings crashed by 41.38 percent to N410.74 million between August 2025 and January 2026, from N700.78 million between February and July 2025.
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Prime Business Africa is a business, economy and policy news platform founded in 2021 by veteran journalist and media scholar, Dr Marcel Mbamalu, after he left The Guardian as Editor.
Dr Mbamalu, who serves as Founder and Publisher, set up Prime Business Africa to deliver sharp, data-driven reporting on Nigeria’s markets, trade, investment, and governance trends for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and policy leaders.
He also writes The Bottom Line, a backpage column for Punch Newspaper every Thursday.
Under his leadership, Prime Business Africa combines deep newsroom experience with a focus on accountability journalism, aiming to bridge information gaps between Africa’s private sector and the global economy.
