FirstHoldco’s Full-Year Unaudited Profit Falls 71% to ₦229bn
FirstHoldco Plc’s unaudited full-year financial results for the year ended 31 December 2025 delivered a stark reminder of the volatility and structural challenges facing Nigeria’s financial sector, with pre-tax profit plummeting 71.18% to ₦229.097 billion from ₦796.461 billion in the prior year, underscoring the depth of earnings pressure even for one of the country’s systemically important financial institutions.
A deeper dive into the numbers shows that this outcome was not a simple collapse in operating activity but rather the result of strategic risk repricing and balance sheet cleanup amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.
At the heart of the profit contraction were significantly higher impairment provisions on loans and advances to customers a reflection of deteriorating asset quality and cautious provisioning by management.
Total impairment charges surged to ₦748.1 billion, up 75.48% year-on-year, with credits losses accounting for the bulk of the charge.
The surge in impairment charges, particularly the heavy losses tied to bad loans, underscores persistent credit risk in the banking book and a recalibration away from the looser risk appetites of earlier years.
Despite this profit contraction, several core revenue indicators remained robust and even improved. Interest income grew by 23.65% to ₦2.96 trillion, driven by higher yields in a persistently elevated interest rate environment, and net interest income remained a key pillar of earnings, albeit lower year-on-year as the cost of funds rose.
Similarly, customer deposits expanded by over 10% to ₦18.90 trillion, affirming continued confidence from depositors and bolstering the institution’s funding base, while total assets climbed 2.04% to ₦27.06 trillion.
However, the earnings per share (EPS) tell the starkest story of shareholder value erosion: EPS fell sharply by 93.36% to ₦0.91, reflecting the outsized impact of the impairments and credit cost provisions on distributable profits.
For investors and market watchers, this collapse in profitability contrasts sharply with the Group’s performance trajectory in preceding periods for example, the impressive performance in 2024 where FirstHoldco reported a pre-tax profit of ₦781.88 billion, more than doubling the prior year’s figure, buoyed by strong net interest and non-interest income.
The stock market reaction further underscores investor caution. FirstHoldco’s share price experienced downward pressure in the wake of the results, even as some market data earlier in the year suggested strong performance and shareholder accumulation trends ahead of the recapitalisation deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Ultimately, the 71% decline in full-year pre-tax profit is a stark headline that masks a nuanced performance narrative. FirstHoldco managed to expand core revenue lines and strengthen its deposit franchise while confronting the unavoidable realities of credit risk and economic cyclicality.
For financial analysts and sophisticated investors, the results offer both a cautionary tale about earnings quality in a high-risk environment and a potentially strategic reset towards more sutainable profitability.aa
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