Access Holdings Plc has released its 2024 full-year audited accounts, reporting a pre-tax profit of N867.019 billion, up from N729.001 billion a year earlier.
The bank holding company also reported a surge in gross earnings, rising to N4.878 trillion from N2.594 trillion reported a year earlier.
Profit after tax stood at N642.22 billion, representing a 3.7% increase from the N619.32 billion posted a year earlier.
The group has proposed a final dividend of N2.05 per ordinary share on its 53,317,838,433 issued ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. This brings the total dividend for the 2024 financial year to N2.50 per share.
Key highlights (2024 v. 2023)
- Gross earnings: N4.878 trillion; +88.00% YoY
- Interest income: N3.480 trillion; +110.38 YoY
- Interest expense: N2.212 trillion; +130.71% YoY
- Net interest income; N1.268 trillion +82.36% YoY
- Impairment charges: N245.319 billion +75.82% YoY
- Net interest income after impairment charges: N1.023 trillion +84.00% YoY
- Net fees and commission income: N415.241 billion +99.84% YoY
- Basic EPS: N16.71 -3.02% YoY
- Cash and cash equivalent with banks: N5.221 trillion +70.66% YoY
- Loan and advances to customers: N11.488 trillion +42.92% YoY
- Total Assets: N41.498 trillion +55.93% YoY
- Customers’ deposit: N22.525 trillion +47.00% YoY
- Share capital & premium: N594.903 billion +136.25% YoY
- Retained earnings: N1.144 trillion, +60.04% YoY
- Shareholders’ fund: N3.760 trillion +72.04% YoY
Cursory Analysis
Access Holdings ended 2024 with a strong financial performance, largely powered by money it made from lending and investing.
Interest income, which is money the bank earns from loans and other investments, remained the main source of its earnings, making up 71% of the group’s gross earnings for the year. That is a 12% increase from 2023, showing that the bank stayed focused on its core business.
A closer look at where this interest income came from shows:
- About 51% came from loans it gave to customers and other banks.
- 47% came from investments in securities (like government and corporate bonds).
- The rest, just under 2%, came from cash balances, which, although small, grew by almost 1,000% during the year.
But while the bank made more money from lending, it also spent more to attract and keep deposits.
Most of its interest expenses, over 88%, were from paying interest on customer deposits and from other financial institutions.
In fact, deposits from customers rose by N12 trillion (61%) to reach nearly N32 trillion. This helped the bank grow its balance sheet but also meant it had to pay more interest to depositors.
At the end of the day, Access spent 63% of its interest income just to cover interest expenses.
Still, it managed to grow its net interest income by 84% to N1.26 trillion, which is impressive and shows that it earned more from loans and investments than it paid out in deposit interest.
However, the bank also had to set aside a bigger amount for loan losses, about N245 billion, up from N140 billion the previous year. This was mostly for loans to customers that might not be repaid and for investments that had lost value.
Non-interest income:
Access also earned money from other sources, such as fees on services and gains from foreign exchange and financial instruments. But in 2024, these made up a smaller portion of gross earnings compared to 2023:
- Fees and commission income contributed 10.5% of gross earnings.
- Fair value and FX gains contributed 8.5%.
Even though these were lower as a percentage of gross earnings, the actual figures still grew. For example:
- The bank earned N162 billion in credit-related fees, more than 60% higher than in 2023.
- It also earned N59.8 billion from account maintenance fees, up by 87%.
These actually drove the fees and commission income.
Balance sheet analysis
Access Holdings has a deposit-heavy balance sheet, meaning most of the money it uses comes from deposits.
In fact, 77% of its total assets in 2024 came from customer and institutional deposits. This is good because deposits are usually cheaper than borrowing, but it also means the bank must manage liquidity and interest rate risks carefully.
Equity side: To strengthen its financial position and meet the Central Bank’s new capital requirements, according to the notes to the financial statements, it raised N351 billion in July 2024 through a rights issue.
Shareholders were allowed to buy 1 new share for every 2 they already owned at a price of N19.75 per share. After deducting transaction costs, the bank added N343 billion to its equity base.
As a result, its share capital and share premium rose to N594.903 billion, representing a 136.25% increase. This significant boost suggests that Access Holdings has now met the CBN’s new capital requirement.
Share price performance: As of April 15, 2025, Access’s share price stood at N21.40, down 10.3% since the start of the year. It has also lost 9% since mid-March. and currently ranked 114th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.
