Nigeria’s Access Holdings skips 2025 dividend as $380 million impairment hits income

Access Holdings Plc, Nigeria’s largest lender by assets, will not pay a final dividend for 2025 after a rise in credit-related losses and accounting adjustments cut total comprehensive income, even as profit rose. The company reported net impairment charges on financial assets of $380 million. The charges, along with unrealized foreign currency translation losses and fair value declines on debt securities, reduced total comprehensive income and offset earnings.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, net interest income rose to N3.54 trillion ($2.57 billion). Fee and commission income also grew strongly to N754.6 billion ($549 million), up from N514.13 billion ($374 million) a year earlier. Foreign-exchange and fair-value gains added further support, rising to N1.05 trillion ($762.4 million) from N415.8 billion ($302.4 million). Those gains helped lift profit after tax to N743 billion ($540 million), compared with N642.2 billion ($466.3 million) in 2024. Even so, the rise in profit did not translate into a final dividend.

FX translation losses hit earnings

The main reason was pressure on total comprehensive income. Unrealized foreign-currency translation losses of N272.1 billion ($198 million), together with fair-value losses on derecognized FVOCI debt securities of N137.2 billion ($99.8 million), pulled total comprehensive income down to N458.5 billion ($333.5 million). That compares with N1.098 trillion a year earlier.

The decision also reflects regulatory caution. Under guidelines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, banks are expected to preserve capital strength when earnings are affected by large prudential charges or unrealized losses. A large part of the impairment charge came from loans and advances to customers, which accounted for N283.4 billion ($206 million). Another N258.8 billion ($188.1 million) came from financial assets classified under other assets. Together, those figures show how much the credit environment weighed on the group during the year.

Assets reach $37.33 billion; retained earnings hit $1.21 billion 

Access Holdings operates across banking, payments, pensions and insurance, with Access Bank Plc contributing the bulk of revenue. For the year, Access Bank Plc remained the main earnings driver, contributing about 97 percent of group revenue. But Access Holdings Plc is also leaning more on other businesses to broaden income. Units such as Access ARM Pensions Limited, Access Insurance Brokers Limited, Hydrogen Payment Services Company Limited and Oxygen X Finance Company Limited are becoming a steadier part of the group’s earnings mix.

Even with the pressure on comprehensive income, the business continued to grow. Total assets rose to N51.44 trillion ($37.33 billion) at the end of 2025 from N41.49 trillion ($30.1 billion) a year earlier. Shareholders’ equity increased to N3.88 trillion ($2.81 billion), while retained earnings climbed to N1.67 trillion ($1.21 billion). For shareholders, the message is straightforward: profits improved, but rising impairment costs and weaker comprehensive income left capital preservation ahead of dividend payments this year.