By Ola Simeon
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) has reported a pre-tax profit of N1.004 trilion for the half year ended June 30, 2024.
This was contained in the company’s audited consolidated and separate financial statements sent to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday.
The milestone figure recorded placed GTCO as the first Nigerian financial institution to cross the N1 trillion mark in profit.
The figure represented an increase of 206.6 per cent over N327.4 billion recorded in the corresponding period ended of June 2023.
The group’s loan book (net) also increased by 25.5 per cent from N2.48 trillion recorded as at December 2023 to N3.11 trillion in June.
Deposit liabilities grew by 39.8 per cent from N7.55 trillion in December 2023 to N10.55 trillion in June.
The Holding’s total assets and shareholders’ funds closed at N14.5 trillion and N2.4 trillion, respectively, while its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)closed robust at 21.0 per cent for the assessed period.
GTCO sustained its asset quality as evidenced by its IFRS nine stage three loans which closed at 4.3 per cent in June, from 4.2 per cent in December 2023
The company also improved in its Cost of Risk (COR) by 1.6 per cent in the period under review, from 4.5 per cent in December 2023.
Commenting on the results, the Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO, Mr Segun Agbaje, said that the firm was immensely proud of the progress it has made as a leading financial holding company.
Agbaje said that despite the uncertainties in the operating environment, GTCO was able to record its highest profit to date in the first half of the year.
He said that this was a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the financial holding’s business model.
“We remain optimistic about the future, and we are committed to leveraging our unique strengths as a thriving financial services ecosystem.
“This is to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders as we continue to position all our business verticals such as banking, funds management, pension, and payments, for rapid growth across key markets,”he said.
According to him, the group recorded growth across all its asset lines.
He said that it continued to maintain a well-structured, healthy, and diversified balance sheet across all jurisdictions where it operates a banking franchise and other businesses.
Overall, the managing director said that the group continued to post one of the best metrics in the Nigerian financial services industry in terms of key financial ratios.
GTCO is the ultimate holding company of the GTCO Plc Group, one of the largest financial services institutions in Africa.
The holding company maintains direct and indirect investments in a network of operating entities located in 10 countries across Africa and the United Kingdom.
