Access Holdings Plc, Nigeria’s largest bank by total assets, posted a pre-tax profit of N146.1 billion in the second quarter of 2024. This was revealed in the company’s half-year audited filings, available on the NGX website.
Half-Year Profit Surges
When combined with the first-quarter pre-tax profit of N202.7 billion, Access Holdings’ half-year profit now stands at N348.9 billion. This represents a significant increase compared to the N167.6 billion recorded during the same period last year. The second-quarter results showed year-on-year growth across all major income lines, although performance slightly dipped compared to the previous quarter.
Key Performance Highlights: Q2 2024 vs Q2 2023
- Interest Income: N752.5 billion (+113%)
- Net Interest Income: N237.6 billion (+84.3%)
- Loan Impairments: N99.9 billion (+441.2%)
- Operating Income: N585.4 billion (+132.5%)
- Operating Expenses: N439.7 billion (+164.7%)
- Pre-tax Profit: N146.1 billion (+69.97%)
- Loans and Advances: N12.2 trillion (+45%)
- Total Deposits: N27.3 trillion (+83.1%)
- Total Assets: N36.5 trillion (+75.5%)
- Net Assets: N2.72 trillion (+65.3%)
- Earnings Per Share (YTD): N7.61
- Dividend: 45 kobo
Revenue Breakdown
Access Holdings recorded total comprehensive income of N646.34 billion after accounting for an “unrealized foreign currency translation difference” of N412.8 billion. The bank’s interest income for the half-year reached N1.4 trillion, with N691.8 billion from loans and advances to customers. Additionally, loans to other banks contributed N86.6 billion, while the remainder came from investment securities.
However, the company incurred significant interest expenses, including N419.2 billion for deposits from financial institutions and N411.2 billion for customer deposits.
Fees and Commissions
Access Holdings generated N250.9 billion in fees and commissions during the first half of 2024. This income stemmed from several sources:
- Credit-related fees: N91.7 billion
- E-business income: N73.8 billion
- Account maintenance charges: N29.58 billion
Meanwhile, the bank incurred N37 billion in expenses tied to e-banking operations.
Rising Costs and Expenses
Personnel expenses saw a significant jump, increasing by 143.9% to N158.8 billion, up from N65.1 billion. This rise appears to be driven by higher staff headcount, which grew from 7,567 to 8,009 employees, and an increase in the number of staff earning over N14.9 million annually.
Other major cost drivers included:
- IT and e-business expenses: N111.2 billion (+265%)
- AMCON surcharge: N111.2 billion (up from N68.8 billion)
- Travel expenses: N24.5 billion (up from N10.7 billion)
In total, Access Holdings’ operating expenses rose by 128% to N512 billion.
Subsidiary Performance
Most of Access Holdings’ foreign subsidiaries posted pre-tax profits, except for Access Bank South Africa and Access Bank Kenya, which reported pre-tax losses of N7.6 billion and N3 billion, respectively.
Top-performing subsidiaries included:
- Access Bank UK: N111.1 billion pre-tax profit
- Access Bank Ghana: N40 billion pre-tax profit
Newly acquired FinTech, Hydrogen Payment Services, reported a pre-tax profit of N238 million from revenue of N3.1 billion. Similarly, Access Pension and ARM Pension, both newly acquired entities, reported revenues of N7.1 billion and N8 billion, respectively, while also remaining profitable.
Share Price Performance
Access Holdings’ share price closed at N19 on Friday, 3% lower than its public offer price of N19.75 per share.
Source: NairaMetrics