Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), Nigeria’s flagship banking group with dual listings on the Nigerian Exchange and London Stock Exchange, posted a pre-tax profit of $890 million (₦1.23 trillion) for the full year to December 31, 2025.
Profit after tax came in at $627 million (₦865.75 billion), down from $739 million (₦1.02 trillion) in 2024. The drop was driven almost entirely by the non-recurrence of $374 million (₦517.5 billion) in one-off fair-value gains booked the prior year, plus higher withholding taxes on investment securities. Stripping out those items, underlying earnings showed continued momentum.
Interest income rose 23.2 per cent year-on-year while fee-and-commission income climbed 25.9 per cent, reflecting higher lending volumes, improved yields and stronger transaction banking across the group’s commercial-banking, payments, pensions and asset-management units.
Balance-sheet expansion and efficiency remain solid
Total assets reached $12.9 billion (₦17.8 trillion). Shareholders’ funds stood at $2.46 billion (₦3.4 trillion). Net loans and advances grew 12.4 per cent to $2.26 billion (₦3.13 trillion), and customer deposits rose 23.8 per cent to $9.31 billion (₦12.87 trillion), with a continued emphasis on low-cost current and savings accounts.
Key profitability and risk metrics stayed elevated. Return on average equity was 28.3 per cent, return on average assets 5.3 percent and the cost-to-income ratio 27.9 per cent. The non-performing-loan ratio improved to 5 per cent at group level (3.4 per cent at bank level), cost of risk fell to 2.2 per cent from 4.9 per cent a year earlier, and the capital-adequacy ratio ended at a robust 43.8 percent.
Shareholders approved a final dividend of $0.0092 (₦12.76) per share — the highest payout in GTCO’s history. At recent share prices near $0.082 (₦113), the dividend implies a trailing yield of more than 11 per cent on the final payout alone, one of the more attractive distributions among major frontier-market banks.
Group chief executive Segun Agbaje said the outcome reflected “the resilience and depth of our earnings capacity” after the exceptional gains of 2024, with management focused on sustainable growth amid a stronger naira and tighter regulatory settings.
For global investors and analysts, the numbers underscore three main points. First, GTCO has shifted successfully from foreign-exchange windfalls toward recurring revenue streams, a key test in a market still exposed to currency swings and monetary tightening.
Second, the combination of 28-plus per cent ROE, sub-30 per cent cost-to-income and capital well above regulatory minimums keeps the franchise in the upper tier of African banking groups by efficiency and defensive strength.
Third, the record dividend, backed by a 43.8 per cent CAR, signals ample capacity for both shareholder returns and potential balance-sheet growth or acquisitions across its regional operations.
The results are likely to draw attention from international portfolio managers seeking exposure to Nigeria’s recovering financial sector through GTCO’s London-listed global depositary receipts.
