Access Holdings’ half-year profit weak despite increased revenue

Post-tax profit for Access Holdings, Nigeria’s biggest lender stood at N281.3 billion.

Access Holdings had a much weaker net profit to show for recording a new revenue milestone for the first half of the year as strong cost measures eroded what would have boosted its bottom line significantly, its audited earnings report issued on Saturday shows.

Post-tax profit for Nigeria’s biggest lender stood at N281.3 billion, about 12.8 per cent of the N2.2 trillion gross earnings; a mark of how challenging it was for the financial services group to turn revenue into profit.

The N1.3 trillion the big lender earned mainly from loans and its investment in financial assets more than doubled compared to a year ago.

However, 65.1 per cent of that was eaten away by what it paid depositors for keeping their money and other borrowing costs, causing net interest income to stand at just N513.4 billion.

More details later.