Onome Amuge
Nigerian financial services group, Access Holdings, concluded 2024 with a strong financial performance, capitalising on income generated from lending and strategic investment activities amidst the country’s elevated interest rate environment.
This is as the group reported a 3.69 per cent year-on-year increase in after-tax profit to N642.2 billion for the full year ending December 31, 2024, up from N619.3 billion in the previous year.Â
Pre-tax profits for Access Holdings also registered significant growth, climbing 18.9 percent year-on-year to N867 billion from N729 billion in 2023.
A key factor underpinning this performance was the 55.6 percent expansion of the group’s total assets, which reached N41.4 trillion by the year’s end, a considerable increase from the N26.6 trillion recorded at the start of 2024.
Consistent with its peers in the banking sector, Access Holdings experienced a notable rise in interest income, calculated using the effective interest rate, to N3.1 trillion from N1.56 trillion in 2023. However, the high-interest rate environment also led to a 130.6 percent increase in the holding company’s interest expense, which rose to N2.21 trillion from N958 billion.
Despite the increased cost of funds, Access Holdings achieved an 81.2 percent year-on-year growth in net interest income, reaching N1.26 trillion compared to N695 billion in 2023. Fee and commission income also saw impressive growth, rising by 85 percent to N514 billion from N277 billion in the prior year.
The group also benefited from net foreign exchange gains, which amounted to N288 billion for the full year, a substantial increase from the N17.2 billion recorded in 2023, likely reflecting the impact of currency fluctuations.
Access Holdings also increased its investment securities portfolio to N11.3 trillion by the end of 2024, marking a 113.2 percent growth from the N5.34 trillion held at the beginning of the year. This expansion was largely driven by a 98.4 percent increase in its treasury bills portfolio, which now stands at N3.8 trillion, up from N1.94 trillion.
The strong performance in 2024 was supported by strong contributions from Access Holdings’ diverse range of banking and non-banking subsidiaries. Notably, Hydrogen Payments reported 380.7 percent year-on-year increase in operating profit to N10 billion from N2.08 billion.
Access Insurance Brokers, in its first year of operation, delivered a promising operating profit of N1.02 billion and a profit after tax of N747 million. Oxygen X Finance, the group’s newly established digital lending arm, reported an operating income of N4.05 billion and a profit after tax of N631 million.
