First HoldCo earned ₦911.24bn before tax in the 9 months to September, up 60.84% from ₦566.54bn a year earlier. The surprising part is where the money did not come from: lending.
Interest income fell 8.69% to ₦2.09tn and net interest income dropped 16.02% to ₦1.26tn, according to the group's unaudited results. For a bank holding company that line is usually the engine. This year the engine slowed and the car went faster anyway.
Where the profit came from
3 lines did the heavy lifting. Net fees and commissions rose 48.08% to ₦316.43bn, an extra ₦102.74bn. Trading swung to a ₦104.6bn gain from a ₦72.8bn loss, a ₦177.4bn turnaround. And loan impairment charges fell 28.32% to ₦207.10bn, ₦81.82bn less than a year ago.
Add those up and you get about ₦362bn of improvement, comfortably more than the ₦240bn lost on net interest income. Operating costs about 8% lower did the rest.
Profit after tax climbed faster still, up 65.11% to ₦744.45bn, which puts the implied tax bill at ₦166.79bn, an effective rate of about 18.3%. Earnings per share rose to ₦16.45 from ₦10.65.
A balance sheet growing faster than its loan book
Total assets reached ₦32.20tn, up 18.15% since December. Customer deposits grew 21.32% to ₦22.91tn, while loans to customers rose just 4.77% to ₦9.39tn. Deposits are growing about 4.5x as fast as loans, and the group now lends out only about 41% of what customers keep with it.
That caution helps the impairment line, but it also explains part of the weaker interest income: money parked in lower-yielding assets earns less than money lent out. Shareholders' equity rose 16.97% to ₦3.86tn.
The quarterly picture is less dramatic. Q3 pre-tax profit was ₦257.71bn, up 22.49% on Q3 2025, well short of the 60.84% pace for the 9 months. Repeat that figure in Q4 and the full year lands near ₦1.17tn.
The trouble with fee and trading income is that it is lumpier than interest. Trading gains in particular can reverse when bond yields or the naira move the wrong way.
First HoldCo has shown it can grow profit hard without leaning on its interest margin. Whether fees and trading can carry a Q4 as strong as Q3 is the test for anyone pricing the stock off this number.
Figures are as reported at the time of writing. STATART news is written by Frank Brother (Markets), Christina Amgbari (Insights) and Ebipadei Joseph (Lifestyle), and checked before publication.