Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) has released its H1 2026 results, reporting pre-tax profit of N603.03 billion for the period ended June 2026, representing a marginal 0.35% increase from N600.90 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
According to the unaudited financial statements, gross earnings rose by 3.25% to N1.11 trillion from N1.07 trillion, while earnings per share declined by 17.73% to N11.18 from N13.59.
The Board also proposed an interim dividend of N1.00 per ordinary share on the issued capital, payable to the Shareholder on the register of shareholding at the closure date.
GTCO’s pre-tax profit was driven by stronger interest income and sharply lower loan impairment charges, but the gains were largely absorbed by higher funding and operating costs and weaker non-interest income.
The topline remained positive in H1 2026, although growth was modest. Gross earnings increased by 3.25% to N1.11 trillion, supported primarily by interest income, which rose 7.51% to N873.39 billion from N812.36 billion. The interest income was driven by:
However, the benefit from the strong interest income was partly offset by a 24.24% increase in interest expense to N223.79 billion, leaving net interest income up by just 2.75% to N649.60 billion.
The biggest support to the bottom line came from lower credit impairment charges. Loan impairment charges fell 65.94% to N18.72 billion from N54.97 billion, allowing net interest income after loan impairment charges to increase by 9.29% to N630.88 billion.
It also recorded a N34.86 billion impairment reversal on other financial assets, further supporting earnings.
However, non-interest income provided less support. Net fee and commission income declined 8.98% to N123.03 billion, while other income fell to N44.35 billion from N70.92 billion.
This outweighed the increase in trading gains to N47.30 billion from N37.92 billion, resulting in total operating income growing by only 2.96% to N845.56 billion.
Cost pressures also constrained profit growth. Total operating expenses increased 7.31% to N277.39 billion, driven notably by depreciation and amortisation, which rose 41.82% to N54.31 billion, alongside a 4.72% increase in personnel expenses to N56.97 billion.
Consequently, despite stronger interest income and substantially lower impairment charges, pre-tax profit increased by only 0.35% to N603.03 billion from N600.90 billion.
Profit after tax, however, declined by 7.76% to N414.19 billion from N449.01 billion, largely due to a 24.33% increase in income tax expense to N188.85 billion from N151.89 billion.
The higher tax charge effectively erased the marginal improvement recorded at the pre-tax level.
On the balance sheet, total assets grew by 4.81% to N18.62 trillion from N17.76 trillion, supported largely by an 11.32% increase in customer deposits to N13.97 trillion, equivalent to 75.03% of total assets.
Much of the additional funding was channelled into investment securities, which rose 21.78% to N6.73 trillion, increasing their share of assets to 36.14%. In contrast, customer loans grew just 0.48% to N3.15 trillion, indicating that balance-sheet expansion tilted more towards investment securities than lending.
Meanwhile, cash and cash equivalents declined 13.19% to N4.74 trillion, while total liabilities increased 6.63% to N15.30 trillion. Deposits from banks fell 30.84% to N226.16 billion, while other borrowed funds declined 81.02% to N15.61 billion.
Total equity declined 2.82% to N3.32 trillion, with retained earnings falling 5.98% to N1.62 trillion and equity’s share of total assets declining to 17.81%.
GTCO’s share price closed at N137.00 on September 28, 2026, unchanged from the previous trading day and representing a 51.05% year-to-date gain from its opening price of N90.70 at the start of the year.
Recent trading shows the stock gaining momentum in the latter part of September. The share price rose from N130.00 on September 18 to N137.00 on September 28, representing a 5.38% increase over the period. It reached N137.50 on September 23 before easing to N137.00, where it remained through September 28.
What happens next will depend on how investors perceive the H1 results, particularly the marginal 0.35% growth in pre-tax profit, the 7.76% decline in profit after tax, stronger interest income and lower impairment charges, as well as the N1.00 interim dividend.
