FCMB Group’s PBT Rises 23% to N79.3bn in H1, 2025

FCMB Group Plc has announced its unaudited financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2025. The company posted a 23 per cent year-on-year rise in profit before tax, which rose to N79.3 billion, driven primarily by improved net interest income and asset yields.

According to the financial statement of the financial conglomerate released to the investing public, gross revenue for the period rose to N529.2 billion, reflecting a 41.3 per cent year-on-year increase from N374.5 billion recorded in the first half of 2024. This increase was supported mainly by a 70.3 per cent growth in interest income.

However, non-interest income declined by 35.1 per cent due to a N36.6 billion drop in currency revaluation gains compared to last year. Net interest income almost doubled, rising from N106.2 billion in the previous year to N207.4 billion by June 2025. The yield on earning assets improved to 20.2 per cent, leading to a net interest margin of 9.1 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent in the 2024 financial year.

The Group’s digital business, including payments, lending, and wealth services, grew strongly, accounting for 13.9 per cent of total earnings. Digital revenues increased by 60 per cent year-on-year, rising from N46 billion in June 2024 to N73.6 billion in June 2025.

FCMB Group’s operating expenses rose by 46.1 per cent to N153.2 billion due to higher personnel costs, regulatory expenses, technology costs, and general inflationary pressures. Despite this, the cost-to-income ratio improved to 57 per cent at the end of June 2025, compared to 59.9 per cent recorded at the end of 2024.

Net impairment losses on financial assets grew significantly to N36.2 billion quarterly following FCMB Group’s banking subsidiary exit from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s loan forbearance programme. This led to a rise in the cost of risk to 2.8 per cent, up from 1.8 per cent in the 2024 financial year.

The Group’s balance sheet also improved, as total assets increased by 6.9 per cent to N7.54 trillion, up from N7.05 trillion as of December 2024. Loans and advances grew modestly by 1.1 per cent to N2.38 trillion, impacted by currency revaluation, loan write-offs, and concentrated paydowns, while customer deposits rose by 5.6 per cent to N4.55 trillion.

Assets under management increased by 15.5 per cent, reaching N1.58 trillion, compared to N1.37 trillion in December 2024. FCMB’s investment banking business, which includes advisory services and capital market transactions, recorded a significant increase in capital raised for its clients, growing by over 600 per cent year-on-year to N2.97 trillion.

The Group also reported improved balance sheet efficiency. A more favourable deposit mix and better deployment of recently raised capital helped reduce funding costs for the second consecutive quarter. As a result, the net interest margin rose from 7.9 per cent in the first quarter to 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, contributing to the 9.1 per cent margin for the half-year. Management expressed confidence in sustaining this trend and exceeding its full-year NIM guidance.

Following its N144.6 billion public capital raise in 2024, FCMB confirmed that the Central Bank of Nigeria has completed verification of the second phase of the programme, a N22.5 billion mandatory convertible note expected to increase the number of issued shares to approximately 42.8 billion.