BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
Access Holdings Plc at the weekend announced its second quarter ended June 30, 2023 financial results showing gross earnings grew by 58.89 percent to N940.31 billion year-on-year while pre-tax profits rose by 71.39 percent to N167.601 billion.
Consequently, the Group has proposed the payment of a 30kobo per ordinary share interim dividend for shareholders whose names appear on its register at the close of business on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
Analysis of the financial statement shows that the growth recorded in pre-tax profit during the period can be attributed to the substantial gains in net fair value and foreign exchange, solely supported by gains on equity investments, foreign exchange and fixed-income securities trading.
The Group reported 63 percent Y-o-Y growth in Interest Income which rose to N606.84 billion.
This growth was primarily driven by increased interest income generated from loans and advances extended to customers and investments in securities.
Net impairment charge on financial assets appreciated by 0.85 percent to N37.18 billion, while net interest income after impairment charges reported a boost of 16.45 percent Y-o-Y to N187.06 billion. Incomes core banking activities increased considerably as net fee and commission income stood at N88.03 billion, translating to 58.78 percent YoY growth.
Similarly, the bank reported a 35.20 percent rise in customers’ deposits which stood at N12.508 trillion as at June 30, 2023. Out of these, a total of N6.71 trillion was allocated as loans and advances to customers, translating to 31.54 percent rise Y-o-Y.
Cash and balances for the period under review was N2.078 trillion, representing 5.47 percent growth while total assets remain strong at N20.85 trillion, amounting to 39.04 percent increase Y-o-Y.
However, the bank reported a significant growth in interest expenses which rose by 118.88 percent to N382.59 billion Y-o-Y. The growth was primarily driven by higher interest expenses related to customer deposits, which grew by 33.31 percent Y-o-Y, to N318.53 billion. As a result, the bank’s net interest income grew marginally by 13.54 percent to N224.24 billion YoY.
Nevertheless, the bank through prudent management of resources and gains from foreign exchange rising by 49.74 percent Y-o-Y to N192.05 billion posted profit after tax of N135.44 billion representing 52.37 percent increase Y-o-Y.
The local equities market last Friday closed negative for the second consecutive week with an 11 basis points week-on-week as the Nigerian Exchange Limited benchmark index otherwise known as NGX All-Share Index declined to 67,324.59 points.
Analysts attributed the weak momentum exhibited by investors who cherry-picked on highly priced, low, and medium-cap companies to several factors including profit-taking activities.
The postponement of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s scheduled monetary policy committee meeting and assumption of office by the new acting CBN Governor, and the quarter-end window dressing by fund managers were other factors assumed to have impacted the market.
In tandem with the ASI, the total market capitalization of listed equities experienced a decline of 0.11 percent week-on-week, descending to N36.85 trillion as the year-to-date return of the All-Share Index printed at 31.36 percent.
Nevertheless, the week unveiled a largely positive sectoral performance.
The Insurance sector emerged as the top gainer, appreciating by 3.34 percent week-on-week and was trailed by the Consumer goods up by 2.98 percent, Banking gained 0.61 percent and the Oil & Gas sectors rose by 0.56 percent accordingly.
On the contrary, the Industrial Goods sector closed the week negative by 4.80 percent week-on-week owing to a price decrease in DANGCEM.
Trading activity throughout the week remained characterized by mixed sentiments, as evidenced by the weekly tally of deals which declined by 13.70 percent week-on-week to 38,536 deals.
Moreover, the average traded volume witnessed a modest weekly increase of 33.36 percent, settling at 3.91 billion units.
However, the weekly average value declined by 35.97 percent week on week, anchoring on a value of N30.38 billion.
At the close of the week, ELLAHLAKES, ETRANZACT, CHAMS and JAPAULGOLD were the major toast of investors amid the cherry-picking activities as their share prices advanced by 29 percent, 29 percent, 19 percent and 18 percent respectively while the top losers for the week were MCNICHOLS, UNITY, DANGCEM whose prices nosedived by 13 percent, 11 percent and 8 percent respectively week on week.
