FCMB Group PBT Soars 23% YoY in H1 2025

FCMB Group Plc Posts Strong Half-Year Performance, Reports ₦79.3 Billion in Pre-Tax Profit

FCMB Group Plc has released its unaudited financial statements for the six-month period ended June 30, 2025, showcasing solid growth across key performance indicators.

The Group recorded a profit before tax (PBT) of ₦79.3 billion, marking a 23% increase compared to the same period last year. This performance was largely driven by higher net interest income and improved asset yields.

Gross earnings climbed to ₦529.2 billion, up 41.3% from ₦374.5 billion in H1 2024, largely on the back of a 70.3% surge in interest income. However, non-interest income dipped by 35.1%, mainly due to a ₦36.6 billion drop in currency revaluation gains year-on-year.

Net interest income nearly doubled, rising from ₦106.2 billion to ₦207.4 billion, while yields on earning assets improved to 20.2%. Consequently, the net interest margin expanded to 9.1%, compared to 6.3% in the prior year.

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The Group’s digital platforms—encompassing payments, lending, and wealth services—continued to show strong momentum, with digital revenues jumping 60% to ₦73.6 billion from ₦46 billion a year earlier. Digital business now contributes 13.9% to the Group’s overall revenue.

Operating expenses rose by 46.1% to ₦153.2 billion, driven by increased staffing costs, regulatory fees, technology investments, and inflationary effects. Despite this, the cost-to-income ratio improved, declining to 57% from 59.9% at the end of 2024.

Following the banking subsidiary’s exit from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s loan forbearance programme, net impairment charges on financial assets rose to ₦36.2 billion. This pushed the cost of risk to 2.8%, up from 1.8% a year earlier.

After-tax profit stood at ₦73.4 billion, a 23% year-on-year increase.

Performance across business segments remained positive:

• Consumer Finance grew PBT by 54.5%
• Banking Group saw a 41.3% increase
• Investment Management rose by 10%
• Investment Banking declined by 48.9%, impacted by the absence of a large one-off gain recorded in the prior year

The Banking Group contributed the lion’s share of PBT at 82%, followed by Consumer Finance (11.6%), Investment Management (4.8%), and Investment Banking (1.4%).

Total assets grew 6.9% to ₦7.54 trillion, compared to ₦7.05 trillion as of December 2024. Loans and advances saw modest growth of 1.1% to ₦2.38 trillion, reflecting the effects of loan write-offs, currency revaluation, and concentrated repayments. Customer deposits increased by 5.6% to ₦4.55 trillion, supported by a healthier deposit mix—low-cost deposits now comprise 69.3%, up from 57.5% at year-end 2024.

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Assets under management rose by 15.5% to ₦1.58 trillion, while capital raised through the investment banking division grew over 600% year-on-year, totaling ₦2.97 trillion.

Improved funding efficiency—thanks to a better deposit mix and prudent capital deployment—enabled a reduction in funding costs for a second straight quarter. Net interest margin climbed from 7.9% in Q1 to 10.1% in Q2, resulting in a 9.1% margin for the first half. Management remains optimistic about exceeding full-year margin targets.

Following a ₦144.6 billion capital raise in 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria has concluded verification of a ₦22.5 billion tranche of mandatory convertible notes, which is expected to increase the share base to roughly 42.8 billion units. Additional phases of the capital programme are underway, aimed at meeting the new capital threshold required to maintain FCMB’s international banking license.

Looking ahead, FCMB Group remains committed to enhancing efficiency, scaling its digital and retail offerings, and sustaining growth through the second half of 2025.