Access Holdings Plc may be reporting ₦216.54 billion profit after tax for Q1 2026, but its published interim financial statement tells a more worrying story one marked by deteriorating asset quality, weakening core lending, rising costs, and shareholders receiving no dividends.
Impairment Charges Triple
The clearest warning signal in the Q1 2026 results is that impairment charges on financial assets more than tripled to ₦73.81 billion (from ₦21.77 billion in Q1 2025).
In effect, the bank set aside significantly more money to cover loans and assets it may struggle to recover pointing to worsening credit risk.
This pressure is reflected in earnings quality. Even though net interest income after impairment increased to ₦265.05 billion (from **₦198.44 billion), the jump comes in a context of accelerating impairment raising concerns about the sustainability of the bank’s earnings.
Core Lending Income Is Collapsing
Core banking activity also shows strain. Interest income declined to ₦824.75 billion (from ₦964.57 billion in Q1 2025).
More specifically:
– Interest income from loans and advances to customers fell 27% year-on-year to ₦429 billion.
– Income from investment securities (FVOCI) dropped 59% to ₦67 billion (from ₦164 billion in Q1 2025).
This combination is troubling: even as total assets expanded to ₦53.44 trillion, returns from core lending weakened sharply.
Profits Look Supported by Trading, Not Lending
While profit figures appear strong, the bank’s results suggest less dependence on traditional lending and more reliance on market-driven gains.
Interest income on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss rose to ₦70.28 billion (from ₦16.10 billion), indicating stronger trading/market contribution to earnings.
Costs Keep Rising
At the same time, operating costs increased. Personnel expenses rose to ₦131.64 billion (from ₦105.56 billion), while other operating expenses climbed to ₦271.57 billion(from ₦213.76 billion).
This When higher impairments and weaker lending income are occurring together with cost inflation, it raises questions about cost discipline and efficiency.
Pan-African Expansion Faces Setbacks
Access Holdings’ acquisition plans also suffered interruptions. The long-stop date for the proposed acquisition of a 100% equity stake in Bidvest Bank (South Africa) expired without completion due to conditions precedent—including regulatory approvals—failing to be met within the timeline.
The bank has continued pursuing expansion, including moves involving operations in Tanzania and Gambia, and the acquisition of a 76% stake in AfrAsia Bank (Mauritius), even as domestic asset quality deteriorates.
Shareholders Remain Shut Out
Perhaps the most immediate impact for investors is dividend disappointment: Access Holdings declared no dividend for the full financial year 2025.
This has left shareholders without expected cash returns, despite prior capital raises through rights issues and placements in 2024 and 2025.
Earnings Per Share Falls
Despite reported profit growth, the value per share declined.
Earnings per share fell 19.33% to ₦13.48in 2025, reflecting dilution after the bank increased outstanding shares to 53.318 billion units.
Attempt to Get the Bank’s Side Before Publication
The Alliance for True Investigative Media Strategies made efforts to obtain a response for a balanced story from Olakunle Aderinokun, Head of Media and Public Relations, Access Holdings Plc.
All possible means were deployed, including emails and phone calls sent before press time. However, Aderinokun declined to reply, and the communication attempts were ignored despite loads of messages and calls.
Access Holdings’ Q1 2026 results show an emerging pattern shareholders should watch closely: tripling impairment charges, falling core lending income, rising operating costs, and a profit mix increasingly influenced by trading/market effects, alongside expansion challenges and no dividend for 2025.
