Access Holdings Plc has recorded a gross earnings surge of N4.878 trillion with an N867.019 billion pre-tax profit in its 2024 full-year audited report.
The bank holding company report showed gross earnings, rising to N4.878 trillion from N2.594 trillion reported a year earlier and a pre-tax profit of N867.019 billion, up from N729.001 billion a year earlier.
Profit after tax stood at N642.22 billion, representing a 3.7% increase from the N619.32 billion posted a year earlier.
The group has proposed a final dividend of N2.05 per ordinary share on its 53,317,838,433 issued ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. This brings the total dividend for the 2024 financial year to N2.50 per share.
Access Holding’s financial performance showed significant growth, with gross earnings increasing by 88.00% year-over-year (YoY) to N4.878 trillion. Interest income surged by 110.38% YoY to N3.480 trillion, while interest expense rose by 130.71% YoY to N2.212 trillion. As a result, net interest income grew by 82.36% YoY to N1.268 trillion.
Impairment charges increased by 75.82% YoY to N245.319 billion, but net interest income after impairment charges still rose by 84.00% YoY to N1.023 trillion. Net fees and commission income also saw a substantial growth of 99.84% YoY to N415.241 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) experienced a slight decline of 3.02% YoY to N16.71. However, the company’s asset base expanded significantly, with cash and cash equivalents with banks increasing by 70.66% YoY to N5.221 trillion, and loans and advances to customers growing by 42.92% YoY to N11.488 trillion.
Total assets rose by 55.93% YoY to N41.498 trillion, while customers’ deposits increased by 47.00% YoY to N22.525 trillion. The company’s equity also grew, with share capital and premium rising by 136.25% YoY to N594.903 billion, retained earnings increasing by 60.04% YoY to N1.144 trillion, and shareholders’ fund growing by 72.04% YoY to N3.760 trillion.
Access Holdings ended 2024 with a strong financial performance, largely powered by the money it made from lending and investing.
Interest income, which is money the bank earns from loans and other investments, remained the main source of its earnings, making up 71% of the group’s gross earnings for the year. That is a 12% increase from 2023, showing that the bank stayed focused on its core business.
A closer look at where this interest income came from shows:
About 51% came from loans it gave to customers and other banks.
47% came from investments in securities (like government and corporate bonds).
The rest, just under 2%, came from cash balances, which, although small, grew by almost 1,000% during the year.
But while the bank made more money from lending, it also spent more to attract and keep deposits.
Over 88% of its interest expenses were from paying interest on customer deposits from other financial institutions.
In fact, deposits from customers rose by N12 trillion (61%) to reach nearly N32 trillion. This helped the bank grow its balance sheet but also meant it had to pay more interest to depositors.
At the end of the day, Access spent 63% of its interest income just to cover interest expenses.
Still, it managed to grow its net interest income by 84% to N1.26 trillion, which is impressive and shows that it earned more from loans and investments than it paid out in deposit interest.
However, the bank also had to set aside a larger amount for loan losses, about N245 billion, up from N140 billion the previous year. This was mostly for loans to customers that might not be repaid and for investments that had lost value.
Access also earned money from other sources, such as fees on services and gains from foreign exchange and financial instruments. But in 2024, these made up a smaller portion of gross earnings compared to 2023:
Fees and commission income contributed 10.5% of gross earnings.
Fair value and FX gains contributed 8.5%.