Ahead of the April 20, 2025 approval it received to delay the report, Access Holdings Plc, on Wednesday published its audited financial for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Highlights of the scorecard showed that despite the 88% growth in gross earnings income, which soared to N4.878tr, a N2.283tr 88.0% jump from N2.594tr reported in the corresponding period of 2023; while profit after tax could only crawl to N642.216bn, from N619.324bn, arising from the equally significant spike in interest expenses and other operating expenses.
In a chat with media executives last year in Lagos, the management of Access Holdings hinted of the soaring expenses arising from its ambitious global expansion, now in its last lap.
Earnings per share, however slipped from N17.23 to N16.71 each, following which the directors have recommended a final dividend of N2.05, bringing total payout for the year to N2.50, up from N1.80 which amounted to N2.30 per share in 2023. The dividend is payable electronically on May 15, to members whose names appear on the register of shareholders as of close of business on April 29, 2025
Total assets for the period rose to N41.498tr, 55.49% better than the N26.688tr recorded in the corresponding period of 2023, while total liabilities soared from N24.503tr to N37.737tr, representing a 54.01% growth within the period. Shareholders’ fund, therefore improved to N3.76tr, up from N2.185tr, or 72.04%
According to the result, interest income leaped to N3.48tr from N1.654tr in 2023, with income from customer loans accounting for N1.631tr, up from N747.215bn. Interest expense stood at N2.212tr from N958.988bn, after the bank paid N954.716bn interest on deposits from financial institutions, up from N320.758bn; and another N992.3bn, up from N505.591bn on customer deposits; and a further N207.842bn as on interest bearing borrowing and other borrowed funds, a leap from N79.3bn. This resulted in net interest income of N1.268tr, compared to previous year’s N695.36bn. Net impairment charge on financial assets ballooned to N245.319bn from N139.528bn; leaving net interest income after impairment charges at N1.022tr from N555.832bn.
Fee and commission income grew to N514.133bn from N277.472bn, lifted by credit related fees and commission amounting to N162.407bn, from N99.639bn; and another N178.611bn, up from N101.615bn earned from commission on foreign currency denominated transactions channels and other e-business income from N101.615bn. This was further broken down into the N490.05bn income from point in time commission, which increased from N253.389bn.
Fee and commission expense rose to N98.892bn from N69.691bn, helped by the N81.548bn e-banking expense, up from N58.541bn. This resulted in net fee and commission income of N415.241bn, against the N207.792bn of 2023.
Fair value and foreign exchange gain fell to N415.804bn from N628.931bn. The impact of the drop was however mitigated by the growth in other operating income from N33.074bn to N459.131bn; which was helped by the N326.187bn gain from disposal of investment; followed from afar by the N39.413bn bad debt recovered. Personnel expenses rose to N381.413bn from N167.903bn; depreciation amounted to N80.533bn from N45.159bn; amortisation increased to N31.707bn from N18.804bn.
Other operating expenses jumped from N465.665bn to N960.844bn; among others, with administrative expenses of N221.39bn from N3.932bn; ahead of the N68.805bn paid to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, from N112.225bn; just IT and e-business expenses gulped N193.522bn from N78.053bn.
Profit before tax, therefore amounted to N867.019bn from N729.001bn; income tax expenses increased to N224.802bn from N109.677bn, spiked by the 70% windfall tax imposed on realized profits from foreign exchange transactions by banks in the 2023 and 2024 financial year by the Nigerian government through the Finance (Amendment) Bill 2024. The tax windfall amounting to N56.74bn to be assessed and collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
A breakdown of the numbers by business segments showed that gross earnings and net profit were driven chiefly by corporate & investment banking with N1.897tr and N341.754bn respectively; and commercial banking with N1.252tr and N197.254bn; while retail banking (south) contributed N992.616bn and N101.967bn; ahead of retail banking (north), N668.268bn and N60.826bn. In the 2023 full-year, corporate and investment banking pooled N1.1tr and N350.129bn; commercial banking, N637.909bn and N196.649bn; while retail banking south and north accounted for N430.715bn and N57.749bn and N420.543bn and N40.941bn respectively.
A further breakdown of the scorecard by geographical segments reveals that Nigeria remains the group’s cash-cow, accounting for N3.504tr of total revenue and N722.853bn profit before tax; followed by the rest of Africa with N1.159tr and N143.711bn respectively; while Europe recorded N540.103bn and N185.296bn; compared to prior year’s N2.095tr and N528.907bn from Nigeria; N402.868bn and N100.758bn from the rest of Africa; and N201.405bn and N98.422bn respectively.
