Julius Berger leases cashew nut facilities to Eko Organic Food

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has formally exited from agro-processing business following the approval for the lease of its cashew nut processing facilities to Eko Organic Food Industries Limited, in a strategic move that signals the engineering giant’s renewed focus on its construction core. The decision, endorsed at the company’s board meeting of September 24, 2025, […]

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has formally exited from agro-processing business following the approval for the lease of its cashew nut processing facilities to Eko Organic Food Industries Limited, in a strategic move that signals the engineering giant’s renewed focus on its construction core.

The decision, endorsed at the company’s board meeting of September 24, 2025, effectively marks the end of Julius Berger’s five-year experiment in agriculture.

The company had first announced in 2020 its intention to diversify into agro-processing, a venture that led to the establishment of cashew facilities aimed at expanding its revenue base beyond civil engineering and infrastructure projects.

The Board explained that leasing the facilities aligns with Julius Berger’s broader corporate strategy of concentrating resources on strengthening its competitiveness in construction while still extracting value from ancillary ventures.

By ceding operational control to Eko Organic Food, a company whose core expertise is agro-processing, Julius Berger ensures continuity of the cashew business while streamlining its focus.

“The goal of the Board of Directors and Executive Management remains to deliver on the strategy of maintaining and strengthening the Company’s competitive advantages in the construction sector, and any other sector it ventures into,” the company said in its corporate disclosure filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday.

Market analysts say the development would help in freeing up capital and management bandwidth for expansion in Julius Berger’s dominant construction segment, which remains central to Nigeria’s infrastructural development drive.

It would be recalled that the ultra-modern cashew processing plant was commissioned in 2022 designed to produce 60 tons per day.