Access Holdings to Pay 20 Kobo Interim Dividend as H1’22 Net Profit Hits N88.9bn

By Dipo Olowookere

The much-awaited financial results of Access Holdings Plc for the period ended June 30, 2022, have been submitted to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

The organisation, according to the financial statements, improved its net profit by 2.30 per cent or N2 billion to N88.9 billion from the N86.9 billion it recorded in the first half of 2021.

Business Post reports that the company also slightly expanded its pre-tax profit in H1 2022 by 0.41 per cent on a year-on-year basis to N97.8 billion from N97.4 billion.

A trip to the top-line of the audited results indicated that Access Holdings improved its gross earnings by 31.42 per cent to close at N591.8 billion versus the N450.3 billion it finished in the corresponding period of last year.

It was observed that interest income increased to N342.5 billion from N279.6 billion, while the interest expense rose to N174.8 billion from N119.7 billion, with the net interest income at N197.5 billion, 1.25 per cent lower than the N200.0 billion achieved in the same time of last year.

Fee and commission income in the period under review improved to N81.1 billion from N73.5 billion as a result of more earnings from channels and other e-business income, account maintenance fees, commissions on collections and others, offsetting the decline in credit-related fees and commissions.

In the first six months of this year, Access Holdings recorded a decline in revenue from net foreign exchange gain as it closed at N52.8 billion compared with the N68.2 billion achieved in the first six months of last year. This was mainly due to the N3.1 billion unrealised foreign exchange loss on revaluation reported in the period under consideration.

Also, other operating income decreased to N10.0 billion from N13.8 billion due to the drop in the recovered bad debt and income from other investments.

A look at its expenditures showed that the personnel costs incurred in the first half of the year surged to N58.3 billion from N43.5 billion due to higher wages and salaries paid to its employees. It was observed that the sum of N50.9 billion was used for this purpose compared with the N41.2 billion expended in the same period of 2021 as other operating expenses jumped to N176.7 billion from N126.0 billion.

Meanwhile, the board of Access Holdings has proposed the payment of an interim dividend of 20 Kobo per ordinary share of 50 Kobo each to shareholders of its 35,545,225,622 issued ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.