By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, October 31 (Radarr Africa) – Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) reported a 12.16% fall in profit after tax to N614.57 billion for the nine months to September 30, 2026, as higher funding costs and a heavier tax bill outweighed growth in deposits and lower loan losses.
The unaudited results, filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on October 27, showed pre-tax profit slipping 2.32% to N879.90 billion from N900.80 billion a year earlier, according to Nairametrics. Earnings per share fell 19.94% to N16.58 from N20.71.
Gross earnings rose 3.27% to N1.63 trillion, helped by a 4.96% increase in interest income to N1.29 trillion. Interest expense, however, climbed 27.73% to N356 billion from N278.73 billion, which pulled net interest income down 1.71% to N935.88 billion.
Loan impairment charges fell 58.41% to N29.02 billion from N69.79 billion, which lifted net interest income after impairment by 2.78% to N906.86 billion. Net trading gains rose 3.14% to N79.63 billion, while net fee and commission income was almost flat at N182.42 billion, down 0.44%. Other income fell 12.89% to N74.78 billion.
Taxation was a major drag. Income tax rose about 31.9% to N265.32 billion, lifting the effective tax rate to about 30.2% from 22.3%, Nairametrics reported. Profit attributable to shareholders fell 11.93% to N606 billion.
On costs, depreciation and amortisation rose 40.98% to N82.46 billion and other operating expenses rose 6.49% to N228.83 billion. Personnel expenses fell 3.38% to N88.51 billion. Combined operating costs rose about 9.5% to N399.80 billion.
The third quarter was weaker than the full period. Pre-tax profit fell 7.68% to N276.86 billion from N299.90 billion, and profit after tax fell 20.05% to N200.39 billion. Net interest income for the quarter dropped 10.51% to N286.28 billion, while net fee and commission income rose 23.59% to N59.39 billion. Quarterly earnings per share fell 27.32% to N5.48.
The balance sheet continued to expand. Compared with the end of December 2025, total assets rose 3.45% to N18.37 trillion from N17.76 trillion, and customer deposits rose 9.40% to N13.73 trillion from N12.55 trillion. Investment securities grew to about N5.94 trillion from N5.54 trillion.
Lending moved the other way. Loans and advances to customers fell 4.08% to N3 trillion from N3.13 trillion, so the larger deposit base went mainly into securities. Other borrowed funds dropped 81.95% to N14.84 billion. Shareholders’ equity rose 2.10% to N3.48 trillion, and retained earnings rose 4.28% to N1.79 trillion.
Billionaires.Africa, citing the Nairametrics report, put the profit after tax at about $463 million and said the stock closed at N123.20 on Tuesday, October 27. Nairametrics said the share price was down 1.52% from N125.10 on the day, had lost roughly 10% over four weeks, and remained about 35.8% above its 2026 opening price of N90.70.
Billionaires.Africa also noted that Segun Agbaje has led the group for about 15 years and owns 0.088% of it, a stake that earned him about N410 million from the group’s record dividend earlier this year.
Nairametrics listed the direction of funding costs, the effective tax rate, the conversion of deposit growth into lending, and cost containment as the main items to track in the fourth quarter of 2026.
GTCO’s first-quarter profit for 2026 was N302.9 billion, according to earlier Billionaires.Africa coverage of the group’s results in May.
