April 20, (THEWILL) – First HoldCo (formerly FBN Holdings) Plc has released its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2024, reporting a 105.71 percent rise in gross earnings to N3.213 trillion – from N1.562 trillion achieved in FY 2023.
This hinges on the impressive performance achieved in several aspects of its operation such as a 156.51 percent Y-o-Y jump recorded in Net interest income which rose to N1.401 trillion from N362.2 billion 2023. Similarly, Net fees and commission income climbed to N244.88 billion from N187.1 billion constituting a 30.91 percent increase Y-o-Y.
Responding to the growth trajectory, Pre-tax profit of N781.88 billion, representing a 124.77 percent increase Y-o-Y compared to N347.87 billion recorded in 2023 added to the success story of the behemoth financial services establishment.
Profit after tax also saw significant growth. It rose by 115.12 percent to N663.490 billion, driving the Gross earnings that surged by 105.71year year-on-year, hitting N3.212 trillion.
Customers’ deposits rose by 61.03 percent to N17.171 trillion from N10.66 trillion in 2023, while Loans and advances to customers grew to N8.768 trillion from N6.35 trillion representing a 37.88 percent Y-o-Y.
According to the results, Total assets rose to N26.524 trillion, showing a 56.60 percent Y-o-Y compared to N16.9 trillion. This shot Shareholders; fund to 2.79 percent against N1.71 trillion in 2023, representing an increase of 60.01 percent.
According to the financial statements, the group has 35.90 billion shares outstanding.
Notably, Femi Otedola increased his total (direct and indirect) shareholdings by 108.83 percent, from 2.03 billion shares in 2023 to 4.23 billion shares in 2024, bringing his stake to 11.80 percent of the company’s total shares.
The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 60 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo each, amounting to N25.13 billion, up from N14.36 billion distributed in 2023 – an increase of 75 percent which will excite the shareholders.
First HoldCo closed its last trading day (Thursday, April 17, 2025) at N24.60 per share on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), recording a 1.6 percent drop from its previous closing price of N25.00.
Data from the NGX shows that First HoldCo began the year with a share price of N28.05 but has since lost 12.3 percent off that price valuation, ranking it 118th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.
The stock is the 11th most traded on the domestic bourse over the past three months (Jan 17 – Apr 17, 2025) recording a total volume of 764 million shares—in 19,118 deals—valued at N22.5 billion over the period, with an average of 12.1 million traded shares per session.
A volume high of 99.1 million was achieved on February 5th for the same period.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
