Zenith Bank Plc has released its first-half 2025 results for the period ended June 30, 2025, posting a pre-tax profit of N625.63 billion and a post-tax profit of N532.18 billion.
Top-line performance remained resilient, with gross earnings growing by 19.96% to N2.521 trillion, reflecting stronger revenue generation.
Consequently, the Board has approved an interim dividend of N1.25 per share, representing a 25% increase over the N1.00 interim dividend paid in H1 2024.
The dividend will be paid on October 10, 2025, to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as at October 3, 2025
Cursory analysis of the results
Zenith Bank’s bottom-line performance has continued to be supported by strong top-line growth, powered more by interest income.
In H1 2025, interest income’s contribution to gross earnings improved significantly to 73%, up from 55% in H1 2024.
Notably, interest income grew by 60% YoY to N1.839 trillion, which is more than 67% of the full-year 2024 interest income, a very strong performance.
- A key driver of this growth was interest from loans and advances to customers, which rose by 55% YoY to N936 billion. This now accounts for 37.2% of gross earnings, up from 29% in the same period last year.
- Another significant contributor was earnings from government securities. Zenith Bank earned N781.5 billion in interest from treasury bills and bonds, a 72% increase YoY, representing about 31% of gross earnings. This growth is supported by the bank’s increased holdings in treasury bills, which rose by over 84% or N2.26 trillion in just six months.
- On the loans side, Zenith Bank’s net loans declined slightly to N9.602 trillion from N9.965 trillion
Core expense analysis
On the expense side, interest expense grew more slowly than interest income.
- It stood at N485.53 billion, an 11% increase YoY compared to H1 2024. Interest on deposits, which accounted for over 72% of total interest expense, grew by 21%, reflecting higher funding costs.
This is expected, given the bank’s customer deposits of N23.483 trillion, which represent about 76% of the total assets of N30.992 trillion.
The wide spread between interest income and interest expense boosted net interest income, which surged by 89% to N1.35 trillion.
However, loan impairment charges consumed more than half of net interest income, with provisions on loans and advances more than doubling to N791.20 billion in just six months.
Even so, net interest income after impairment remained strong at N593.91 billion, up 98% from N299.78 billion in H1 2024.
Non-interest income
The bank also grew its fees and commission income, driven by:
- Account maintenance fee: N43.224 billion, up 32% YoY
- Foreign currency transaction fees and commission: N25.224 billion, up N267% YoY
However, gains on other trading books declined from N871.643 billion in H1 2024 to N482.223 billion in H1 2025.
Balance sheet analysis
Zenith Bank’s total assets of N30.993 trillion continue to be driven largely by its deposit base of N23.483 trillion, highlighting that the bulk of its funding comes from customer deposits.
On the asset side, gross loans and advances to customers stood at N10.223 trillion in H1 2025.
- ECL (Expected Credit Loss) allowance stood at N621.647 billion (N1.028 trillion in FY 2024)
- Net loans came in at N9.602 trillion, slightly lower than N9.965 trillion in December 2024.
- Stage 1 loans rose to N4.094 trillion from N1.023 trillion at the end of 2024.
Other key highlights H1 2025 vs. H1 2024:
- Gross earnings: N2.521 trillion +19.96% YoY
- Interest income: N1.839 trillion +60.01% YoY
- Interest expenses: N484.525 billion +11.55% YoY
- Net interest income: N1.355 trillion +89.45% YoY
- Earnings per share N12.99 -29.66% YoY
- Loans and advances to customers N9.610 trillion -3.65%.
- Cash and Cash equivalents N6.658 trillion +13.07%
- Total Assets N30.993 trillion +3.46%.
- Customers’ deposits N23.483 trillion +6.94%.
On the market side, as of the close of trading on Thursday, September 18, 2025, the shares were priced at N66 per share, reflecting a YtD gain of 45.1%.
Importantly, the bank has already met its recapitalization target, with share capital and share premium totaling N614.65 billion, well above the CBN-required N500 billion, pushing shareholders’ funds to N4.57 trillion.
