Access Holdings Reports Strong 9M 2026 Profit Growth

AFRICAN STOCKS AND FINANCENovember 3, 2026 at 11:56 AM UTC

TLDR

Access Holdings Plc reported an 8.3% increase in Profit Before Tax to ₦667.4 billion for the first nine months of 2026.
Performance was supported by a 73.5% reduction in impairment charges and growth in core operating income.
The Group is progressing its "Scale-to-Value agenda" and working towards BOFIA compliance to enhance shareholder returns.

Access Holdings Plc reported its unaudited results for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, showing resilient profit growth. The Group's Profit Before Tax increased by 8.3% to ₦667.4 billion. Profit After Tax also rose by 5.9% to ₦474.2 billion during the period.

This performance was driven by growth in core income and a significant reduction in impairment charges. Impairment charges declined by 73.5% to ₦92.9 billion, leading to a 32.1% increase in net interest income after impairment, reaching ₦1.20 trillion. Net fee and commission income grew by 12.4% to ₦534.9 billion, contributing to a 5.4% rise in core operating income to ₦1.83 trillion.

Interest income for the period increased by 6.9% to ₦3.1 trillion, while interest expense rose by 10.1% to ₦1.8 trillion. Total assets expanded by 1.7% to ₦52.6 trillion, supported by a 6.6% increase in customer deposits to ₦36.8 trillion and a 7.4% rise in loans and advances to customers to ₦14.3 trillion. The Banking Group remained the primary contributor, accounting for 96.0% of Group Profit Before Tax, with operations outside Nigeria contributing 82.2% of the Banking Group's profit.

The results reflect ongoing progress under the Group’s "Scale-to-Value agenda," which emphasizes stronger execution, robust risk governance, and disciplined capital allocation. This strategy aims to translate the Group's extensive scale and diversified franchise into sustainable shareholder returns. The increasingly diversified earnings base, leveraging its geographic footprint, provides a broader platform to improve earnings quality and capital productivity.

Access Holdings is also making significant strides towards complying with BOFIA Section 19(8)(c), which limits a bank's investment in subsidiaries. The Group has identified capital recalls from six banking subsidiaries, with one already completed and shareholder approvals obtained for four others. This completion is expected to remove regulatory constraints on dividend distributions, further supporting the Group's objective of ensuring its scale is effectively governed and translated into sustainable shareholder returns.

Key Takeaways

The Group's "Scale-to-Value agenda" is central to its strategic direction, representing a shift from merely building scale to enhancing its quality and productivity. This agenda focuses on several key priorities: strengthening execution capacity, ensuring robust risk governance and regulatory compliance, implementing disciplined capital allocation, optimizing funding, improving operating efficiency, and boosting capital productivity. By concentrating on these areas, Access Holdings aims to convert its extensive market presence and diversified operations into consistent and sustainable returns for shareholders. A significant aspect of this strategy involves addressing regulatory requirements, specifically compliance with BOFIA Section 19(8)(c), which restricts a bank's investment in subsidiaries to 10% of shareholders' funds. The Group is actively recalling capital from six banking subsidiaries, having completed the process in one and secured shareholder approvals for four others. This initiative is crucial as its completion is anticipated to lift the existing regulatory constraint on dividend distributions, thereby directly impacting shareholder returns. Management continues to prioritize moderating expense growth, strengthening recurring income streams, and improving the conversion of revenue into earnings, all underpinned by robust risk governance and compliance standards, to ensure the Group's scale is efficiently deployed and consistently generates value.