GTCO Reports Half-Year Earnings, Profit Slash Amid Rising OpEx, Offers N34.136bn Interim Dividend
Guaranty Trust Holdings Company Plc, parent of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, on Tuesday published its audited earnings for the half year ended June 30, 2025, after weeks of speculation, confirming what investors have since feared as shown in the results so far published by three of its peers to the effect that revenue remained impaired owing to the worsening operating environment, while cost sustained it northward movement leading to profit slash. Observers of the trend on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) blame this on the ongoing sustained decline its benchmark indicators, as investors seek to reprice the assets.
The result by GTCO revealed a N319.885bn or 22.97% fall in gross earnings from N1.392tr reported in the first half of 2024, to N1.072tr, led by revenue from the corporate banking segment, which accounted for a significant N605.306bn, a drop from the previous N727.695bn; followed by the N256.319bn from retail banking, down from N393.532bn; while the group’s SME banking segment contributed N80.435bn, compared to previous N112.024bn; commercial banking pooled N62.364bn, down from N85.568bn; public sector banking, N40.455bn, against the N44.88bn; and business banking, N21.421bn, a drop from the previous N28.671bn.
Similarly, a review of the revenue by geography, showed that the group’s Nigerian business contributed the lion’s share still, accounting for N691.817bn, compared to the N1.097tr of the 2024 first half; followed by the rest of West Africa’s N311.79bn contribution against N224.104bn, leaving East Africa and Europe with N35.72bn, a drop from N39.366bn; and N31.335bn from N31.37bn respectively.
Interest income for the period amounted to N798.427bn from N607.699bn, boosted by the N299.629bn earned from customer loans and advances, up from N245.3bn; followed by investment securities which earned N234.234bn, rising from N134.828bn; while cash and cash equivalents recorded N129.862bn, up from N105.922bn; while investment securities at amortised cost rose from N114.554bn to N126.817bn.
Interest expense rose to N180.122bn from N126.376bn, driven by the interest expense on customer deposits totalin N147.159bn, up from N102.055bn; leaving net interest income at N632.237bn, compared to the previous N491.511bn. Loans impairment charges for the half-year rose to N54.971bn from N47.395bn; resulting in net interest income after loan impairment charges which rose from N444.116bn to N577.266bn.
Fee and commission income rose to N151.461bn from N113.919bn; fee and commission expense stood at N16.287bn, up from N12.85bn; following which net fee and commission income increased to N135.173bn from N101.069bn.
Net trading gains on financial instruments at fair value through profit and loss rose from N30.471bn to N37.92bn; other income fell sharply from N630.271bn in the corresponding period of last year, to N70.922bn; net impairment reversal on other financial assets stood at N38.106bn, compared to the previous N357.552m charge.
Personnel expenses rose from N41.5bn to N54.398bn; depreciation and amortisation increased to N38.291bn from N27.519bn; just as other operating expenses soared from N132.775bn to N165.798bn.
Profit before tax also slowed down by N402.874bn or 40.13% to N600.901bn, compared to the N1.003tr reported previously. The situation was further worsened by the N53.681bn or 54.66% jump in income tax expense for the period which left net profit at N449.011bn, a drop of 50.42% from the preceding half-year’s N905.567bn. A desegregation of the net profit showed that corporate banking contributed the lion’s share of N260.984bn, against the N437.357bn of the previous half-year; followed by N104.841bn from retail banking, representing a plunge from the N290.261bn reported in the 2024 half-year; while the SME, commercial, public sector and business banking segments contributed N33.486bn, from N73.967bn; N27.414bn, from N47.761bn; N13.514bn, as against N36.479bn; and N7.614bn, compared to the previous N19.561bn respectively.
The net profit for the period amounted to earnings per share of N13.59, sliding from N32.12 in the previous half-year from which the directors are offering an interim dividend of N1.00 per share, amounting to N34.136bn in total payout. Payment of the dividend, according to the directors will be made electronically to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as of the close of business on October 7, while payment is slated for October 15, 2025.
According to the report released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, total assets grew to N16.692tr at the end of half-year 2025, from N14.795tr in the 2024 full-year ended December 31, boosted by customer loans and advances which increased from N2.785tr in December to N3.357tr in June, just as restricted deposits and other assets grew to N2.94tr from N2.574tr. Total liabilities, on the other hands grew to N13.697tr from N12.083tr, buoyed significantly by the customer deposits of N11.877tr, up from N10.013tr.
