The 2026 financial year is shaping up under gloomy financial auspices for the Société africaine forestière et agricole du Cameroun (Safacam). 

According to revised forecasts by the Socfinaf Group, which holds indirect control via the holding company SAFA, the listed agro-industrial company's net income should stand at 1.34 billion CFA francs at year-end, compared to 3.22 billion CFA francs recorded in 2025. This 58.3% decline comes even as overall revenue is projected to rise by 3.6%, to 29.37 billion CFA francs.


A Marked Deterioration in First-Half Margins


The half-year accounts closed at June 30, 2026 already materialize the contraction in operational profitability. The company's profit from ordinary activities fell to 2.91 billion CFA francs from 4.88 billion a year earlier, a 40.4% drop. Meanwhile, half-year revenue eroded by 10.6%, standing at 15.76 billion CFA francs versus 17.62 billion over the same period in 2025. Consequently, the ordinary margin rate relative to sales retreated from 27.7% to 18.5%.

This revenue shrinkage is almost exclusively attributable to the oil palm segment, whose sales fell by 13.5% to 11.13 billion CFA francs, representing 93% of the overall revenue decline. The rubber division posted a more moderate 2.7% decrease. 


Paradoxically, this commercial decline occurs against a backdrop of increasing harvested volumes: crude palm oil production rose by 16% in the first half, reaching 14,135 tonnes versus 12,184 tonnes a year earlier. Management explains this gap by a strategic deferral of palm kernel oil sales to the second half of the year.


A Second Half Under Seasonal Pressure


Projections factor in a loss-making second half, with an implied net loss estimated at approximately 687 million CFA francs over the last six months. The company faces the classic horticultural seasonality squeeze: on an annual target of 17,840 tonnes of palm oil, 14,135 tonnes had already been extracted by end-June, leaving only 3,705 tonnes to produce by December.


Confronted with uncertainty weighing on international rubber prices and the continuous rise in operating expenses, Safacam will need to stabilize its fixed costs to preserve its dividend distribution capacity and secure its plantation renewal investments.


Bernardo

Tags: safacam agro-industrie palmier a huile caoutchouc resultats financiers cameroun socfinaf dividendes production agricole marges