Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) saw its 2025 earnings drop by 14.9 per cent in a year when other income shrank, and weak revenue growth could not shield profit from the impact of surging costs.
Post-tax profit for Nigeria’s biggest financial services group by market value slid to N865.7 billion in 2025 from N1 trillion a year ago, according to its recently issued audited accounts, its first profit drop in three years.
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An annual growth rate of 0.1 per cent in gross earnings, which inched up from N2.1 trillion to N2.2 trillion, laid the foundation for the result.
In the same vein, operating income slowed generally across key operations of Guaranty Trust Bank, the group’s flagship and commercial banking division, across Africa, with Nigeria, its home market, reporting a 12.5 per cent (N150.9 billion) fall.
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But Habari Pay, GTCO’s fintech arm, saw its operating income jump by 123.6 per cent to N13 billion.
READ ALSO: GTCO declares N12.76 dividend, posts N1.23trn profit
Net interest income, a marker of what a financial institution earns from interest-generating assets after accounting for the costs associated with such expenses, was up by 19.1 per cent at N1.3 trillion.
The corporation cut back the provision it set aside to cover bad loans by more than half, from N136.7 billion in 2024 to N66.4 billion in the year under review.
Other income, one of the major pressure points, slumped by 72 per cent after the banking group incurred an unrealised fair value loss of N81.8 billion on financial instruments, contrary to the N517.5 billion gain reported in 2024.
Profit before tax retreated to N1.2 trillion from N1.3 trillion, while return on equity declined to 25.4 per cent from 37.5 per cent.
Last July, GTCO listed on the London Stock Exchange, the first Nigerian lender to do so, after exiting the global depository receipt trading category on the bourse.
Zenith Bank, one of its top-tier rivals, announced this month it will also tow the same path next year.
