Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), on Friday became the latest to present its audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2024 to t he Nigerian Exchange Limited ahead of the statutory deadline for submitting December year-end results.
In apparent investor approval of the result and most likely the dividend proposed, its share price closed 7.08% up N68.80 per share after testing a high of N70 each.
Highlights of the result included the N961.871bn or 81.07% growth in gross earnings; and N478.148bn or 88.6% rise in Profit After Tax, despite the N178.789bn or 256.69% leap in income tax expense for the period.
The directors have recommended a final dividend of N7.03 per share, up from the N3.20 paid out last year, bringing total payout to N8.03 for the year considering the interim dividend of N1.00 paid at the end of half-year.
Specifically, gross earnings income stood at N2.148tr from N1.186tr, driven as usual by the interest income of N1.341bn, which rose from N550.755bn in the same period of 2023, with interest from customer loans contributing the lion’s share of N509.244bn, up from N290.666bn. Interest expense rose to N283.215bn from N114.058bn, after the group committed N234.539bn to paying interests on customer and banks’ deposits from N105.667bn. This resulted in net interest income of N1.058tr, compared to the previous N436.696bn.
Loan impairment charges rose from N102.953bn to N136.661bn; bringing net interest income after loan impairment charges to N921.924bn, against N333.743bn.
Fee and commission income increased from N124.162bn to N221.231bn, driven by e-business income grew to N56.564bn from N40.829bn; ahead of the N37.115bn from account services, maintenance and ancellary banking charges from N14.594bn. Fee and commission expense climbed to N31.519bn from N14.733bn, after bank charges grew from N12.011bn to N24.637bn. Loan recovery expenses rose from N2.721bn to N6.882bb, leaving a net fee and commission income of N189.711bn, up from N109.428bn.
Net trading gains stood at N86.237bn from N62.201bn, after net foreign exchange trading gains jumped from N58.589bn to N76.832bn; other gains came to N499.066bn from N449.346bn, lifted by unrealised fair value gain on financial instruments valued at N517.5bn from N367.266bn; just as unrealised loss on forward transactions rose to N39.72bn from N584.714m. Net impairment charge on other financial assets fell from N94.992bn to N27.667bn.
Personnel expenses rose to N85.397bn from N45.097bn; depreciation and amortisation increased to N58.032bn from N39.095bn; other operating expenses soared to N259.595bn from N166.226bn.
A breakdown of the revenue by operating business units shows that corporate bank remained the champion, accounting for N1.348tr, up from the previous year’s N695.623bn; ahead of the N476.534bn from retail banking, up from N317.847bn; followed by commercial banking with N138.734bn, which was more than double its previous N66.571bn; while SME banking pooled N120.165bn, up from 66.799bn, among others.
Profit before tax amounted to N1.266tr from N609.308bn; while income tax expense soared to N248.443bn, compared to the previous N69.653bn; resulting in profit after tax of N1.107tr, a jump from N539.654bn.
A further breakdown of the result by geography, Nigeria remained the group’s cash cow, contributing N1.527tr or 73.21% of gross revenue and N992.878bn or 78.41 percent of profit before tax in 2024, up from N936.134bn, or 78.9%, and N478.552bn or 78.54% respectively. The group’s operations across the rest of West Africa accounted for N467.852bn and N232.739bn, representing 21.78% and 18.38% of revenue and PBT respectively, from 187.968bn or 15.84% and N105.57bn or N17.32% in prior year. East Africa contributed N86.347bn and N18.465bn, up from N35.526bn or 2.99% and N13.713bn or 2.25%; while Europe added N66.334bn and N22.162bn to earnings and PBT, against 26.835 or 2.26% and N11.471bn or 1.88% respectively within the period.
