Nigeria’s oldest financial institution, FBN Holdings, released its 2024 second-quarter results, showing a pre-tax profit of N177.79 billion, representing an 18.9% year-on-year growth.
The impressive growth in pre-tax profits boosted half-year profitability to a record N411.9 billion for the group, marking its best-ever half-year performance on record.
FBN Holdings’ half-year profit of N411.9 billion is more than double the N205 billion pre-tax profit reported for the same period in 2023.
This blistering performance will excite shareholders of the bank, who are witnessing the first quarterly results under the leadership of Femi Otedola as Chairman and Olusegun Alebiosu as Managing Director/Chief Executive.
Otedola assumed chairmanship of the bank in January while Alebiosu was appointed acting MD/CEO in April.
Key highlights (2024 Q2 vs 2023 Q2)
- Net Interest Income – N288 billion vs N124.3 billion (+132%)
- Net Fees and Commission – N58.4 billion vs N37.5 billion (+55.7%)
- Operating Profit – N177.7 billion vs N149.5 billion (+18.8%)
- Pre-tax profit – N156.1 billion vs N136.6 billion (+14.2%)
- Earnings per share: 40 kobo
- Loans and advances to customers: N9 trillion vs N6.3 trillion (+42.8%)
- Customer deposits: N15.1 trillion vs N10.6 trillion (+42.4%)
- Net Assets: N2.2 trillion vs N1.7 trillion (+29.4%)
Commentary
FBN Holdings’ performance was driven by growth in interest income, which was 2.5 times more than the N197 billion reported a year earlier.
- Interest income earned also surpassed the N446 billion reported in the first quarter of 2024. The major drivers for interest income were loans and advances to customers and income from investment securities.
- FBN Holdings also reported a net foreign exchange loss of N66.45 billion, bringing its total half-year losses to N165 billion.
- However, the bank also reported N143.3 billion as net gains from instruments at fair value, taking the total for the first half of the year to N433.2 billion.
- In terms of the company’s segment performance, the commercial banking group contributed N366.1 billion to total profits, while the Investment Banking and Asset Management group contributed N37.1 billion.
Otedola’s influence: FBN Holdings’ financial performance has experienced a remarkable improvement since billionaire investor Femi Otedola took over as Chairman and majority shareholder.
- Analysts have seen Otedola’s investment in the bank as a significant vote of confidence, signaling to the market and other investors that FBN Holdings had strong growth potential.
- Since then, several board changes have occurred, with Olusegun Alebiosu assuming the helm as Managing Director/Chief Executive.
- Alebiosu’s appointment is part of a broader strategy to inject fresh perspectives and drive innovation within the bank.
- Under their leadership, FBN Holdings has streamlined its operations, cut down on non-performing loans, and leveraged new technologies to boost customer engagement and operational efficiency.
- The company has now reported one of its best-ever second-quarter profit performances as the bank gears up for its own recapitalization exercise.
The company’s share price is down 11% year-to-date, at N21 per share.
