Bank led by Nigerian tycoon Herbert Wigwe achieves over $180 million in profit

Access Holdings, a pan-African financial services conglomerate led by Nigerian banking tycoon Herbert Wigwe, has announced a remarkable financial achievement, posting a profit of more than $180 million in the first half of its 2023 fiscal year. This surge in earnings builds upon the conglomerate’s outstanding financial performance in 2022.

According to the recently released financial results, Access Holdings witnessed a substantial 52.6 percent increase in its half-year profit, climbing from N88.74 billion ($120 million) in the first half of 2022 to N135.44 billion ($183.3 million) in the corresponding period of 2023.

This impressive financial performance was primarily propelled by a surge in the group’s interest income, which skyrocketed to N596.14 billion ($806.7 million), and non-interest income, reaching N224.24 billion ($303.4 million) during the review period.

Under Wigwe, Access also saw its total deposits surge from N11.26 trillion ($15.23 billion) at the start of the year to N14.93 trillion ($20.2 billion) as of June 30, 2023. Its total loans and advances to banks and customers surged by 37.2 percent from N5.56 trillion ($7.52 billion) to N7.62 trillion ($10.3 billion) during the same timeframe.

Access Holdings, a prominent player in Nigeria’s financial services sector, maintains active operations across 12 African nations and has been diligently extending its presence in Africa and Europe. Notably, the conglomerate recently announced plans to acquire the Sub-Saharan African subsidiaries of the UK-based multinational bank Standard Chartered Bank.

Wigwe, who serves as the group managing director and CEO of Access Holdings, owns a substantial 7.14-percent stake in the financial giant, equivalent to 2,536,687,116 ordinary shares as of June 30, 2023.

As a direct consequence of its stellar half-year results, Access Holdings witnessed a significant boost in its total assets, which rose from N14.99 trillion ($20.3 billion) on Dec. 31, 2022, to N20.85 trillion ($28.21 billion) as of June 30, 2023. Furthermore, retained earnings showed a modest increase, rising from N408.7 billion ($553 million) to N442.81 billion ($599.2 million).

In light of this outstanding financial performance, the board of directors has proposed an interim dividend of N0.3 ($0.00041) per share to be distributed to its shareholders, representing an increase from the N0.2 ($0.00027) per share interim dividend paid in the preceding year.