FBN Holdings has delivered impressive financial performance in 2024, posting a 142% YoY growth in pre-tax profit to N862.391 billion.
This strong growth is driven by significant improvements across key financial metrics, despite challenges related to rising interest expenses and increasing impairments.
Key highlights (2024 vs 2023):
The bank’s interest income growth is impressive, but there is a notable shift in the sources of income:
Deposit base and funding costs:
This signals that while the bank has grown its deposit base, it is facing higher funding costs, likely due to increased competition or rising interest rates.
Rising credit risk:
While impairments are manageable for now, the trends in loan quality and non-performing loans (NPLs) should be watched as they can affect profitability in the future.
Operational performance and strategic insights:
Despite the challenges faced by the bank, particularly with rising interest expenses and higher impairments, the bank has delivered impressive operational performance:
Overall, this strong performance in the face of rising expenses and impairments suggests strategic adaptability and could indicate a positive long-term outlook, provided these trends continue to balance out in future periods.
The bank’s share price experienced a significant decline of 27% YtD in 2024, in stark contrast to the impressive 116% YtD gain in 2023.
As of January 30, 2025, the share price closed at N29.10, reflecting a YtD return of 3.74% for 2025.
Overall, FBN Holdings has posted impressive financial results, demonstrating strong profit growth and effective diversification of revenue.
However, the rising impairments, increased funding costs, and declining share price reflect challenges that investors must monitor closely.