Access Holdings targets sustainable trillion-naira earnings as strategy shifts to value creation

Access Holdings Plc has said it is entering a new phase of growth focused on delivering consistent long-term returns to shareholders after spending the past 25 years building one of Africa’s largest financial services platforms.

Chairman of the group, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the company’s new strategic direction, tagged “From Scale to Value,” marks a deliberate transition from expanding assets and geographical presence to improving profitability, capital efficiency and shareholder returns.

Speaking in an interview with African Banker magazine, Aig-Imoukhuede said Access Holdings has reached a stage where sustainable earnings, rather than rapid expansion, have become the primary measure of success.

“We are now placing emphasis on return on equity, quality of earnings, capital productivity, cost efficiency and sustainable shareholder distributions,” he said.

The strategy follows a record financial performance by the group in 2025 when profit before tax crossed the one-trillion-naira mark for the first time, rising by 16.2 per cent to N1.01 trillion from N867.02 billion recorded in 2024.

Profit after tax also increased to N743.05 billion, while gross earnings rose to N5.53 trillion.

The strong momentum has continued into 2026.

For the first quarter ended March 2026, profit before tax increased to N272.21 billion compared with N222.78 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year. Net profit rose to N216.54 billion from N182.75 billion.

The balance sheet also strengthened significantly during the period. Total assets grew to N51.57 trillion, customer deposits climbed to N34.56 trillion and shareholders’ funds increased to N4.33 trillion.

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, the group’s objective is to make these earnings sustainable rather than exceptional.

“What I want our shareholders and the global investment community to believe is that this platform can deliver these results consistently,” he said.

He added that Access Holdings has now built a diversified financial services platform operating in more than 20 markets with over 60 million customers across Africa and beyond.