Cutix has spent most of 2026 telling its distributors that solar cable is its next big market. This week the Nnewi cable maker put a product behind the pitch: a range of halogen-free, flame-retardant (HFFR) solar cables, led by a photovoltaic DC cable built to International Electrotechnical Commission standards.
The range comes in 2 formats, single-core and 2-core flexible copper, using Class 5 stranded conductors with HFFR insulation and sheathing. Halogen-free matters more than it sounds. When ordinary PVC cable burns it gives off dense, toxic smoke; HFFR compounds are designed to limit that, which is why they are favoured on rooftops and inside homes and offices, exactly where most Nigerian solar systems sit.
Why solar, and why now
The demand side is not in doubt. Nigeria imported 1,721MW of Chinese solar panels in the 12 months to June 2025, 2x Egypt's 854MW and second in Africa only to South Africa, according to energy think tank Ember. Every one of those panels needs DC cable to reach an inverter, and that cable sits on hot roofs for 20 years or more. A local supplier with certified product and a dealer network already in the electrical markets has a real opening.
The question is whether Cutix has the balance sheet to chase it. Its financial year to April 2026 was rough: revenue fell 6.4% to ₦14.77bn and the company slipped to a ₦47.9m pre-tax loss from a ₦1.62bn profit, as finance costs rose 2.7x to ₦1.04bn, most of it interest on commercial papers.
A better start to the new year
The first quarter of the new financial year, May to July 2026, looked healthier. Revenue rose 5.1% to ₦3.70bn, finance costs eased to ₦169.7m from ₦190.8m, and Cutix booked ₦58.3m after tax against a ₦105.8m loss a year earlier. That is a 1.6% net margin, thin but positive.
Cutix has not disclosed prices, production volumes or a revenue target for the solar range, so there is no way yet to size what it adds. The company will show the cables at the Lagos International Trade Fair from 5 to 15 November, which should give a first read on dealer appetite.
Cutix has picked the right market and arrived with the right specification. Whether solar cable can lift margins back toward the ₦1.62bn pre-tax profit of the year to April 2025 depends on volumes the company has yet to reveal.
Figures are as reported at the time of writing. STATART news is written by Frank Brother (Markets), Christina Amgbari (Insights) and Ebipadei Joseph (Lifestyle), and checked before publication.