First HoldCo Plc gross earnings climbs to ₦3.4trn in 2025

Orisemeke Benjamin

First HoldCo Plc. Friday has stated that its gross earnings rose to ₦3.4 trillion in 2025 from ₦3,104.5 trillion in 2024.

In its audited results for the financial year ended December 31, 2025, the Group stated that the figure represents 6.9% year-on-year increase.

According to the Group, the growth was driven by strong core banking activities and a well-diversified income base.

Profit before taxdecreased by 70.5% to ₦235.0 billion, primarily as a result of a 93.8% rise in impairment charges and the normalisation of foreign exchange gains recorded in prior years. Despite these challenges, the Group demonstrated robust underlying performance, with normalised pre-provision profitrising by 36.6% to ₦1.07 trillion.

Total assets grew 2.7% y-o-y to ₦27.3 trillion from ₦26.5 trillion in 2024. This, the Group said, demonstrates an expansion in the asset position and interest earning asset as cash and balances with central Banks, loans to banks & customers and investment securities now constituting 89.8% of total assets versus 86.8% in the prior year.

The result showed that operating expensesrose by 32.1% to ₦1.2 trillion, primarily due to inflationary trends and foreign exchange pressures. This is just as the Group enhanced its capital base, with share premium increasing significantly to ₦458.4 billion following a successful capital raise. Total shareholders’ funds also rose from ₦2.8 trillion to ₦3.3 trillion.

The Group upheld a solid and highly liquid balance sheet, as evidenced by a 10.0% rise in customer deposits to ₦18.9 trillion. Meanwhile, loans and advancesexperienced a modest 2.3% increase, reaching ₦9.0 trillion, consistent with the Group’s prudent and disciplined approach to risk.

According to First HoldCo, non-performing loan (NPL) ratiorose to 12.0% (2024: 10.2%) due to a notable increase in impairment charges, largely attributable to significant industry-wide exposure within the oil and gas sector, consistent with similar treatments by other major syndicate banks. The Group however noted that the underlying collateral values remain more than adequate to cover exposures.

Commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director, FirstHoldCo, Wale Oyedeji, noted that “2025 was a defining year for FirstHoldCo, characterised by disciplined execution, resilient core earnings and a comprehensive reset of our balance sheet for sustainable performance and high-quality growth.

“Gross earnings grew by 6.9% to ₦3.4 trillion, underpinned by strong net interest income growth of 36.8% and continued momentum in our digital and transactional franchises.

“Importantly, we comprehensively de-risked the Group’s balance sheet by adequately providing for systemic impaired and non-performing exposures. We also strengthened our capital position through focused capital-raising initiatives to ensure FirstBank meets minimum regulatory capital requirements of N500 billion. Additionally, and under our ₦350 billion capital raise programme, we have successfully secured ₦128.7 billion to date,” he further said.