GTCO remains on track to meet full-year target—Segun Agbaje

Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Segun Agbaje, says the company remains on track to meet its full-year guidance in 2024.

Agbaje disclosed this while reacting to the company’s  first-quarter earnings of pre-tax profit of N509.3 billion, more than six times the profits it made in the same period in 2023.

“Our first quarter results reflect the unfolding value of what we have created across all our business verticals through the Holding Company Structure—from Banking and Payments to Funds Management and Pension. We are strategically positioned to effectively compete and meet all our customers’ needs within a unified, thriving financial ecosystem.”

Despite the challenging operating environment, Mr. Agbaje noted the company’s solid performance, highlighting “significant growth across all financial and non-financial metrics,” and affirmed that the company remains on track to meet its full-year guidance.

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“Overall, the Group continues to post one of the best metrics in the Nigerian financial services industry in terms of key financial ratios i.e., pre-tax return on equity (ROAE) of 117.0 per cent, pre-tax return on assets (ROAA) of 18.0 per cent, full impact capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 24.9 percent and cost-to-income ratio (CIR) of 16.3 per cent.”

According to information contained in its first-quarter earnings, the bank posted a pre-tax profit of N509.3 billion, more than six times the profits it made in the same period in 2023.

Profit after tax for the period under review printed N457.1 billion while the bank’s total assets rose to N13 trillion from N9.6 trillion at the end of 2023.

GTCO’s entire profit after tax for 2023 was N539.6 billion underscoring how significant this result is for the bank and its shareholders.

GTCo also earned over N100 billion from investments in securities. About 79 per cent of its investment security portfolio is treasury bills, which are yielding returns as high as 19 per cent compared to single-digit returns posted a year earlier.

Commission and fees also contributed another N52 billion to the bottom line, nearly delivering another double-digit gain year on year.

GTCo’s performance reveals it posted a loss on revaluation gains while earning about N331.5 billion from “fair value gain on financial instruments,” a term for an increase in the market value of a financial asset, as measured by the difference between its current fair value and its previous valuation or purchase price.

GTCO share prices gained 8.8 per cent at the close of trading on Friday at a share price of N38.10. The stock is down 5.95 per cent year to date. Its highest placed price this year is about N53 per share.