First Holdco Plc Grows Gross Earnings To N3.4 Trillion For Unaudited Full Year Ended December 31, 2025

<h4>First Holdco Plc Grows Gross Earnings<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>reports that First HoldCo Plc has announced its unaudited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2025&comma; reflecting a year of deliberate strategic actions aimed at strengthening its balance sheet&comma; improving asset quality&comma; and positioning the business for more resilient and sustainable growth amidst successful capital raise activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As stated in the unaudited Group financial statement&comma; FirstHoldCo recorded a 4&period;8&percnt; year-on-year &lpar;y-o-y&rpar; increase in its Gross earnings to N3&period;4 trillion&comma; supported by a 36&period;3&percnt; y-o-y growth in net interest income of N1&period;9 trillion on the back of enhanced earnings yield and margins of 17&period;11&percnt; and 11&period;0&percnt;&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Similarly&comma; net fees and commissions improved by 18&period;7&percnt; y-o-y to N290&period;7 billion&period; These are clear indications of the strength of the revenue generating capacity of the core business which continues to be solid&period; Earnings for the year were&comma; however&comma; lower than the prior year&comma; primarily due to higher impairment charges in the commercial banking segment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is in line with a deliberate strategic decision to accelerate balance sheet clean-up and adopt more aggressive provisioning standards&period; Management views this as a prudent step that enhances transparency&comma; strengthens investor confidence&comma; and aligns fully with evolving regulatory expectations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additionally&comma; increased regulatory costs affected profitability&period; These charges&comma; while weighing on the results&comma; underscore the Group’s compliance with Nigeria’s financial system stability framework and its commitment to ensuring systemic confidence&period; Despite these pressures&comma; underlying performance of the Group remains strong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Deposit liabilities grew by 10&period;0&percnt; y-o-y&comma; driven by sustained deposit mobilisation and continued investment in digital banking platforms&period; This growth reflects strong customer confidence and deepening engagement across key segments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The deposit mix also showed a deliberate reduction in foreign currency deposits&comma; resulting from the repayment of expensive funding and the impact of naira appreciation&period; This shift supports improved funding efficiency and reduces foreign exchange risk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gross loans and advances declined marginally&comma; reflecting a disciplined approach to credit growth&comma; strengthened risk management&comma; loan repayments&comma; write-offs&comma; and the translation impact of a stronger naira on foreign currency facilities&period; The Group intensified its commitment to ensuring a high-quality&comma; cleaner asset base&comma; aiming to optimise the portfolio and enhance future earnings potential&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Furthermore&comma; performance in earnings was impacted by a decline in non-interest income&comma; mainly due to lower fair value gains on financial instruments following the naira appreciation in 2025&period; However&comma; this was partially offset by stronger foreign exchange &lpar;FX&rpar; trading income and reduced FX revaluation losses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Net fees and commission income also grew&comma; supported by higher electronic banking fees&comma; letters of credit commissions&comma; custodian fees&comma; and account maintenance income&comma; reflecting the continued success of the Group’s digital-innovation strategy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While impairment charges increased following the end of regulatory forbearance&comma; management has intensified recovery initiatives and reinforced credit oversight&period; Excluding impairment and fair value gains&comma; pre-provision operating profit grew by 23&period;9&percnt; y-o-y to N973&period;3 billion demonstrating robust performance of the core business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Apart from the commercial banking impairments&comma; performance across the rest of the Group remained resilient&comma; supported by steady customer activity and disciplined execution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Looking ahead&comma; the Group will continue to prioritise disciplined execution of its strategic objectives&comma; with emphasises on enhancing efficiency and profitability&comma; continuing to build on the Group’s digital and data capabilities&comma; while sustaining a robust balance sheet to support increased value creation and returns for shareholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alongside this&comma; the Group will pursue selective growth initiatives&comma; including new revenue <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">streams<&sol;a>&comma; additional business verticals&comma; and deeper participation in targeted African markets&comma; in line with our strategy and risk appetite&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Further details and insights are to be provided when the audited full-year results are published and during the subsequent investor and analyst earnings call&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;