Angola’s 78 state-owned enterprises that submitted their 2025 accounts to the Institute for State Asset and Equity Management (IGAPE) recorded an aggregate net profit of 949.0 billion kwanzas (approximately US$1.04 billion), a 20% increase year-on-year — but the result masks a deeply uneven picture: strip out the contributions of Sonangol and Unitel, and the public enterprise sector would have posted a net loss of 72.0 billion kwanzas.
In practice, the profits of those two companies were the decisive factor keeping the sector’s aggregate result in positive territory, absorbing the losses accumulated across the remaining state-owned entities. Sonangol alone accounted for 91% of the sector’s total net profit — a stark illustration of the national oil company’s outsized weight in Angola’s public enterprise accounts. It is worth noting, however, that a significant portion of the earnings generated by both Sonangol and Unitel did not stem directly from their core operating activities.
In Sonangol’s case, more than half of its 2025 profit — some 459.4 billion kwanzas, equivalent to 53% of its total earnings — originated from investment income rather than upstream or downstream operations. Specifically, this reflected positive returns from its stakes in Angola LNG, Millennium BCP and Galp. At Unitel, profits surged 59%, driven by proceeds from the disposal of a 15% stake in Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) and from dividend distributions by BFA, which ranks as the second-largest bank by assets in Angola’s financial system.
Excluding the extractive sector — dominated by Sonangol and diamond miner Endiama, which together account for roughly 90% of the state enterprise sector’s economic weight — the remaining public enterprises recorded a profit for the first time in their history, posting a combined net result of 57.4 billion kwanzas. That milestone was driven primarily by Unitel’s performance.
By sector, extractive industries led all categories with profits of 891.6 billion kwanzas, more than double the prior-year figure, representing a 102% increase. Communications came second with 159.9 billion kwanzas (+18%), followed by electricity with 34.6 billion kwanzas (+4%) and trade with 8.3 billion kwanzas (+1%). The construction, education and other-activities sectors collectively accumulated losses exceeding 220 billion kwanzas.
On profitability metrics, return on assets (ROA) — which measures how efficiently a company converts its asset base into profit — edged up just 0.1 percentage points to 2.0%. Return on equity (ROE), the measure of returns generated for shareholders, moved in the opposite direction, slipping 0.1 percentage points to 5.3%. At the balance-sheet level, aggregate assets across the state enterprise sector grew 21% to 47.9 trillion kwanzas, while equity rose 23% to 17.9 trillion kwanzas.
Of the 78 entities that reported to IGAPE, 42 had their financial statements approved with qualifications — two more than in 2024. The number of accounts approved without qualification fell slightly, from 26 to 25. More strikingly, accounts rejected outright by external auditors nearly quadrupled, rising from three in 2024 to 11 in 2025. Despite that deterioration in audit outcomes, the broader data show an improvement in compliance with reporting obligations.
In 2025, 78 of the 79 active state enterprises submitted accounts, with only one failing to do so. Of the 78 that filed, 76 also submitted management reports, 67 incorporated an external auditor’s report, and 64 included the opinion of a supervisory board.
The figures, compiled by IGAPE, underline the structural fragility of Angola’s state enterprise sector, where systemic profitability remains almost entirely contingent on the financial performance of a handful of companies — above all, Sonangol.
Source: Expansão / Original article: http://expansao.co.ao/empresas/detalhe/sonangol-e-unitel-safam-sector-empresarial-publico-de-prejuizos-ainda-maiores-73667.html
