Relational Capital and Profitability: A Study of Consumer Goods Companies Listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc

Abstract Following attention on pervasive corporate failures in Nigerian businesses and reporting structure, relational capital and its influence on profitability is a modern global corporate reporting issue. This research was carried out to examine the influenceof relational capital on profitability of companies in the consumer goods sector in Nigeria. With a population of 21 companies in the consumer goods companies, a sample size of 17 companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc as at 31st December, 2024 were selected using purposive sampling techniques. To achieve the objectives, an ex-post facto research design was adopted involving manual generation of data from the annual reports of the selected companies. The study period was from 2015 to 2024 financial year. The actual values of relational capital were generated for each of the objectives in line with International Initiative on Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics specifically through simple regression techniques. Profitability of companies in the consumer goods companies was proxy by return on assets. Results revealed that, relational capital have a significant positive but weak influence on return on assets. This result was evidenced by a beta coefficient of 0.342 and a probability value of 0.000. It was concluded that, withadequate relational capital in place in the company, firm's profitability and value creation would be achieved in the long term. It was recommended that, since relational capital is based on worldwide best practices and is intended to be reported to resource providers, particularly stakeholders, it should be considered a significant area of interest in the compilation of annual reports for businesses.