FBN Holdings half-year profit touches record N56.5 billion on surge in interest income

FBN Holdings, the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest financial institution FirstBank, posted a post-tax profit of N56.5 billion at mid-year, its earnings report showed Friday, a level never before seen since it transfigured into a holdco more or less a decade ago.

That was enabled by an expansion by two-fifths in interest income to N226.4 billion, which itself dominantly aided the 22.4 per cent boost in revenue.

The financial services group’s gross earnings for the period was N359.3 billion, which compares with the N293.6 billion on record a year ago.

Little improved, fees and commission income scraped a growth of 2.3 per cent to N70.7 billion. But there is a reason to worry about a marked deceleration in e-banking income, the biggest component of this earnings class which, despite having been noted across the industry as a bright spot for lenders at a time of muted growth, fell 11.4 per cent lower.

FBN Holdings laid aside N21.7 billion of its revenue, 18.7 per cent less than it did a year earlier, to cover credit facilities whose likelihood of being paid down is in limbo by reason of repeated defaults, leaving the institution’s non-performing loans at N142 billion at the end of June.

Profit before tax scaled up by N20.5 billion to N65.7 billion, while after-tax profit stood 48.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.

FBN Holdings, which holds 42 per cent stake in Seawoulf Oilfield Services Limited – an investment that has been fully impaired – has incurred N10.4 billion in impairment loss, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria having appointed a receiver manager to take over Seawoulf Oilfield’s business in 2014.

Net profit margin for the period was 15.7 per cent.

In May, the group through its pension division, First Pension Custodian Limited, agreed to fully procure Access Bank’s 100 per cent stake held in Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited.

FBN Holdings, the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest financial institution FirstBank, posted a post-tax profit of N56.5 billion at mid-year, its earnings report showed Friday, a level never before seen since it transfigured into a holdco more or less a decade ago.

That was enabled by an expansion by two-fifths in interest income to N226.4 billion, which itself dominantly aided the 22.4 per cent boost in revenue.

The financial services group’s gross earnings for the period was N359.3 billion, which compares with the N293.6 billion on record a year ago.

Little improved, fees and commission income scraped a growth of 2.3 per cent to N70.7 billion. But there is a reason to worry about a marked deceleration in e-banking income, the biggest component of this earnings class which, despite having been noted across the industry as a bright spot for lenders at a time of muted growth, fell 11.4 per cent lower.

FBN Holdings laid aside N21.7 billion of its revenue, 18.7 per cent less than it did a year earlier, to cover credit facilities whose likelihood of being paid down is in limbo by reason of repeated defaults, leaving the institution’s non-performing loans at N142 billion at the end of June.

Profit before tax scaled up by N20.5 billion to N65.7 billion, while after-tax profit stood 48.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.

FBN Holdings, which holds 42 per cent stake in Seawoulf Oilfield Services Limited – an investment that has been fully impaired – has incurred N10.4 billion in impairment loss, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria having appointed a receiver manager to take over Seawoulf Oilfield’s business in 2014.

Net profit margin for the period was 15.7 per cent.

In May, the group through its pension division, First Pension Custodian Limited, agreed to fully procure Access Bank’s 100 per cent stake held in Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited.