First HoldCo Plc has reported a pre-tax profit of ₦653.54 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2026, the best half-year result in the group's 132-year history and an 83.50% increase from the ₦356.15 billion recorded in the first half of 2025, as the Femi Otedola-led financial services group completes one of the most dramatic earnings recoveries seen in Nigerian banking.
The group delivered gross earnings of ₦1.93 trillion for the period, with the second quarter contributing a pre-tax profit of ₦332.42 billion, up 3.52% from ₦321.12 billion in Q1 2026 and 95.92% above the ₦169.67 billion posted in Q2 2025. The share price gained 10% mid-trading on the back of the results.
Interest income came in at ₦1.40 trillion, down 2.74% year-on-year from ₦1.44 trillion, a softening that reflects both the CBN's partial easing of its policy rate and the group's deliberate shift away from the high-yield but volatile carry-trade positions that defined the 2025 balance sheet. The profit expansion despite lower interest income underscores how far operating efficiency and credit quality have improved since the group's sweeping balance sheet reset.
That reset is central to understanding the magnitude of the H1 2026 numbers. In 2025, FirstHoldCo took a historic ₦826.3 billion impairment charge to resolve longstanding asset quality concerns accumulated over years of legacy bad debt, a painful but deliberate "kitchen-sinking" that suppressed full-year 2025 profit after tax to ₦139.5 billion. With those provisions absorbed and the balance sheet comprehensively de-risked, the group entered 2026 with a structurally cleaner loan book capable of generating earnings that its pre-restructuring balance sheet could not have supported.
Group Chairman Femi Otedola described the results as a significant achievement in the group's transformation journey. "The first half of 2026 marks an important turning point for FirstHoldCo. These results affirm that the bold decisions the Board took to strengthen the institution were the right ones. We are witnessing the benefits of a stronger balance sheet and improved profitability," he said. Group Managing Director Wale Oyedeji said the performance reflected the resilience of the franchise, the dedication of employees and the success of strategic actions taken in recent periods.
The market had been pricing in a strong result for weeks. FirstHoldCo's share price had already more than doubled from its ₦47.90 opening price in January 2026 to a record ₦87.25 on July 16, with institutional investors accumulating heavily ahead of the earnings release and 1.26 billion units trading in a single session on July 9, the heaviest single-day volume in the stock's history. The 10% intraday gain on results day extended a rally that has now made FirstHoldCo one of the most discussed stocks on the NGX in 2026.
The H1 result also repositions FirstHoldCo within the FUGAZ competitive hierarchy. Having entered 2026 ranked second by Q1 profit behind Zenith Bank, the group's ₦653.54 billion first-half pre-tax profit puts the full-year earnings trajectory on a path that could see it challenge for the top position among Nigerian lenders by year-end, assuming the second half sustains the momentum the first has established. With recapitalisation still in progress, a planned ₦253 billion capital raise approved by shareholders in May, and the CBN's minimum capital deadline on the horizon, the group has now demonstrated it can grow earnings and strengthen its capital base simultaneously. That combination, rare in Nigerian banking at any point in the last decade, is precisely what the market has been waiting to see validated in actual reported numbers.
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