The board of Access Holdings Plc, on Friday presented its performance scorecard for the first three months of the year ended March 31, 2025, indicating that gross earnings grew faster than the profit line owing to the spike in interest expense for the period.
According to the result presented through the Nigerian Exchange Limited, gross earnings improved by 41.89% from N974.242bn in the same period of 2024 to N1.382tr, while net profit only rose by 14.73% in the period under review.
Corporate & Investment Banking contributed N408.106bn to the total revenue; while retail banking south and north contributed N279.148bn and N288.992bn respectivelyN1.001tr, the lion’s share of Access Holdings’ revenue was derived from Nigeria, compared to the previous N645.81bn; ahead of N390.763bn from the rest of Africa, up from N232.162bn in 2024; while Europe contributed N134.748bn, down from N232.162bn.
Interest income for the period stood at N980.672bn, improving by N261.073bn or 36.28%, from N719.599bn reported in the first quarter of last year. A breakdown of the figures showed that interest earned from customer loans and advances soared from N335.837bn last year to N582.346bn. Interest expense, however, stood at N760.469, after jumping by N316.589bn or 71.32% from N443.88bn, driven by the N447.227bn interest on customer deposits, more than double last year’s N294.439bn; while interest on deposits from financial institutions rose from N181.803bn to N249.661bn; among others. Corporate & Investment Bank pooled N430.584bn and N377.726bn to interest income and expenses respectively; followed by Commercial Banking with N336.257bn and N169.598bn; and retail banking (north), N142.136b and N77.357bn; Retail banking (south), N60.006bn and N125.522bn. This left net interest income at N220.206bn, down from N275.719bn in the corresponding period of 2024.
Net impairment charge on financial assets dropped marginally to N21.770bn from N22.794bn, resulting in a net interest income after impairment charges of N198.436bn down from the previous N252.925bn.
Fee and commission income increased from N112.378bn to N174.478bn, boosted by credit related fees and commission which rise ti N75.518bn from N44.394bn; followed by income from commission on foreign currency denominated transactions channels and other e-business income which rose to N48.353bn from N33.385bn. Fee and commission expense rose marginally from N25.522bn to N28.254bn with commission paid as e-banking expense increased from N20.77bn in 2024 to N23.79bn. Net fee and commission income grew from N86.856bn to N146.224bn.
Fair value and foreign exchange gain rose to N214.391bn from N119.228bn; other operating income dropped to N12.831bn from N23.037bn; personnel expenses soared to N105.563bn from N79.848bn; and depreciation rose to N23.114bn from N16.238bn. Other operating expenses stood at N213.762bn from N176.641bn.
Profit before tax rose to N222.782bn, from N202.738bn; Income tax expenses dropped to N40.029bn from N43.452bn, while net profit improved from N159.287 to N182.753bn. This translated to earnings per share of N4.88 each, compared to the previous N4.35 per unit.
