Access Bank’s profit surges 51% as revenue hits N972 billion

Access Bank’s after-tax profit for last year enlarged by more than a half to N160.2 billion while its gross earnings advanced to N971.9 billion, both performance indicators rising to levels never before seen since the lender got permit in 1989 to run commercial banking services in Nigeria.

Revenue galloped at the pace of 27.1 per cent over the figure for 2020, when N764.7 billion was posted in turnover, Access Bank’s audited financial statements showed on Friday.

It owed the growth to a substantial increase in interest income from credit to customers as well as to net foreign exchange gain, which swung from a loss position of N7.6 billion to N101.1 billion, improving by 1,435.9 per cent.

Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets and revenue is a distant away from completing a changeover to a holding company, which allows for diversification into other financial services outside core banking operations at a time lenders are struggling to sustain growth, a luxury its current traditional banking structure does not permit.

Last week, it said it has obtained the approval of the Federal High Court for a scheme of arrangement between the bank and its shareholders that will pave the way for a new entity to be known as Access Holdings Plc.

**Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director, Access Bank**

Profit before tax for the review period stood at N176.7 billion, 40.3 per cent higher than what it reported a year earlier. Net profit climbed by 51.1 per cent to N160.2 billion.

Profit margin, which measures how much of revenue has turned into profit, was 16.5 per cent.

Basic earnings per share was N4.58. It had been N3.01 a year earlier.

Access Bank announced an interim dividend of N0.30 for 2021 last December and is expected to declare a final dividend soon.