Access Holdings’ Half-Year Profit Hits N940bn

Access Holdings’ net profit for the first half of the year rose by about 52 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year as its half-year revenue reached N900 billion mark for the first time ever. Gross earnings for the period climbed by 58.9 per cent to N940 billion, putting the financial services group on track to dwarf the N1.4 trillion reported for full year 2022, when the current year winds down. Access Bank anchored the growth on fair value and foreign exchange gain, which expanded by approximately 50 per cent to N192 billion. That followed a major revamp of the Nigerian foreign exchange system towards the end of the second quarter, which triggered a reasonable drop in the value of the naira against the dollar but opened the door for the lender to gain big after converting its financial assets denominated in the foreign currency to the naira. At 13.5 per cent, improvement in net interest income was paltry as the cash the corporation paid savers as an incentive for holding their deposits ate away at most of the interest it generated during the period, which originally had surged by as much as 63 per cent. That expense alone consumed N382.6 billion of the entire revenue.Taxable profit advanced to N167.6 billion from N97.8 billion a year earlier, while profit for the period rose 52.4 per cent to N135.4 billion. Ironically, Access Holdings’ post-tax profit lagged those of its other peers who come behind it among Nigeria’s five biggest banks, including UBA, Zenith, GTCO and FBN Holdings in indication of the group’s current inability to tap the vast potentiality of its assets to boost earnings. Its total assets stood at N20.8 trillion in June in a big leap from N15 trillion at the end of last year, following a banking acquisition in Angola and a number of similar deals in the pipeline with Standard Chartered Bank in Cameroon, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and also Angola. Access Holdings declared an interim dividend of N0.30 per share on Saturday equivalent to a payout of N10.7 billion, compared to the N0.20 per share it announced a year earlier. The stock has yielded 103 per cent since the beginning of the year.

CBN Approval Delaying Release of H1 2023 Statements -Access Holdings

The board of Access Holdings Plc has announced that it is awaiting approval from CBN to release its Half-Year (HY) financial results for the period ended 30th June 2023 after completion of the audit of its subsidiaries. In a statement signed at the Nigerian Exchange Limited by the Company Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, the results would be filed on or before September 30, 2023. “Access Holdings Plc (the Company) wishes to notify the investing public and the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) of a potential delay in the publication of the Company’s Audited Interim Financial Statements for the Half Year ended June 30, 2023 (the Results’). The Company had, on August 14, 2023, requested and obtained the approval of NGX for the Results to be filed on or before September 15, 2023, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’), due to post-audit completion matters. In line with NGX’s approval, the Company had submitted the Results to the CBN for its approval. However, given the time estimated for the CBN to review the submitted Results, it is envisaged that the Company may be unable to meet the September 15, 2023 timeline for publication of the Results. Based on the foregoing, the Company has sought and obtained an extension of time to file the Results on or before September 30, 2023, subject to CBN’s approval of the Results. In mid-July, Access Holdings completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Finibanco Angola after receiving necessary regulatory approvals from CBN and Angola’s apex bank. The group noted that the bank had signed necessary agreements with minority shareholders of Finibanco Angola S.A. who expressed interest in selling their shares. With the completion of the acquisition, Access Holdings now owns more than 51 per cent stake in Finibanco Angola S.A. Also, Access Bank Plc (flagship subsidiary of Access Holdings) reached an agreement to acquire the sub-saharan subsidiaries of Standard Chartered Bank. In the acquisition deal, Standard Chartered will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, and Sierra Leone to Access Bank as well as its consumer, private & business banking business in Tanzania. Recall that the Access Holdings’ initial delay in releasing its results was due to ongoing audit activities of the newly acquired sub-subsidiaries of the banking group. Following the completion of its audit activities, it is now seeking final approval from the apex bank before publishing its results to the investing public.