Access Holdings’ audited H1:2026 results show notable profit growth, as PBT rose 29.19% YoY to NGN414.13bn and PAT 23.53% YoY to NGN266.72bn, while EPS rose 20.43% to NGN4.48. The main driver was a 70.01% YoY fall in impairment charges to NGN69.01bn, an aftermath of the large loan clean-up of H1:2025, following the end of CBN’s forbearance regime. Fee income also grew strongly, but losses on trading, FX, higher costs and taxes, held back the gains. Notably, no interim dividend was declared.
Going forward, we expect earnings to remain resilient by year end. Although growth in core business income has been slow, we expect it to remain supportive of earnings amidst considerable gross loan growth seen so far. Moreover, fee and commission income is expected to maintain its uptrend, driven by income from digital and other financial services.
We highlight that fair value losses remain major downside risk to earnings amid Naira appreciation; however, lower pressure from impairment charges should offset further fair value losses. Thus, we maintain our STRONG BUY recommendation on the stock.
Please click here to download the full report.