Guaranty Trust Holding Company reported N603.03 billion in first-half 2026 profit before tax, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier, as stronger interest and trading income was offset by a N46.2 billion fair-value loss.
Interest income rose 7.5 percent year-on-year and trading income increased 24.7 percent, but the valuation loss limited the translation of those gains into overall profit growth.
The results, covering the six months to June 30, 2026, were released to the Nigerian Exchange Group and London Stock Exchange.
One of the strongest balance-sheet signals from the results was the 10.3 percent increase in deposit liabilities, which rose from N12.87 trillion at the end of 2025 to N14.19 trillion by June 2026.
Net loans increased by only 0.5 percent, from N3.13 trillion to N3.15 trillion over the same period.
The resulting gap between deposit and loan growth means GTCO accumulated more than N1.3 trillion in additional deposits during the six months while adding only about N20 billion to its net loan book.
Interest and trading income provided the principal support for the group’s H1 earnings.
Interest income increased 7.5 percent year-on-year, while trading income climbed 24.7 percent.
However, the N46.2 billion fair-value loss substantially moderated the contribution of those income gains to bottom-line growth, leaving PBT only marginally above the corresponding period of 2025.
GTCO also entered the second half of the year with improved credit-risk indicators.
Cost of risk fell to 0.6 percent from 2.2 percent, while IFRS 9 Stage 3 loans improved at group level to 4.6 percent, from 5.0 percent at the end of 2025.
At bank level, Stage 3 loans stood at 3.5 percent compared with 3.4 percent at the end of 2025.
GTCO’s balance sheet remained strongly capitalised, with total assets closing at N18.6 trillion and shareholders’ funds at N3.3 trillion.
The group’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 34.9 percent, compared with 29.2 percent at the banking subsidiary.
Its pre-tax return on equity was 35.9 percent, while pre-tax return on assets stood at 6.6 percent.
The group also reported a 31.5 percent cost-to-income ratio, underscoring the continued strength of its profitability and operating efficiency metrics.
The H1 results come as GTCO continues to reposition itself from a predominantly banking franchise into a broader financial-services group.
The holding company said growth was recorded across its banking operations as well as its Payments, Pension and Funds Management businesses.
Segun Agbaje, group chief executive officer of GTCO, said the business was increasingly less dependent on banking alone, with digital capabilities expected to support expansion across the group.
“Digital is our lever for scaling across Banking, Payments, Pension and Funds Management, and for building a more diversified and resilient financial services group,” Agbaje said..
The otherwise resilient H1 performance was accompanied by a sharp increase in reported fraud-related losses.
GTCO disclosed 9,730 fraud and forgery incidents during the six months, compared with 15,469 incidents for the full year 2025.
Although the periods are not directly comparable, the amount involved in naira-denominated fraud had already reached N3.05 billion, above the N2.58 billion reported for the whole of 2025.
Actual or expected losses rose to N1.48 billion, from N269.4 million in 2025.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company’s first-half results reveal a widening gap between the performance of its underlying income lines and headline profitability, with stronger operating income and balance-sheet growth constrained by fair-value losses.
While profit before tax rose only 0.4 percent, GTCO recorded stronger interest and trading income, alongside a notable increase in deposits and lower credit-risk costs. The group also retained a substantial capital buffer, providing capacity to support further growth.
The balance sheet, however, presents another key feature of the results. Deposits rose to N14.19 trillion, while net loans stood at N3.15 trillion, indicating that deposit mobilisation has substantially outpaced the expansion of conventional lending.
