Nigerian Exchange Group Plc has posted a pre-tax profit of ₦14.76 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2026, a 170% surge from ₦5.46 billion in the same period of 2025, as the record-breaking equity bull market that has defined the Nigerian Exchange this year translated directly into transaction fee income that dwarfs what the group earned in any comparable period in its history.

Revenue surged 118% to ₦17.60 billion from ₦8.08 billion in H1 2025, while total income rose 96% to ₦19.34 billion. Transaction fees, the group's single largest revenue line, jumped 169% to ₦13.34 billion from ₦4.96 billion, accounting for more than 75% of total revenue and making clear that the equity market's extraordinary activity levels in 2026 are the primary engine behind the result. Listing fees grew 59% to ₦2.38 billion, and technology income increased 19% to ₦447.86 million.

Operating profit rose 155% to ₦10.62 billion from ₦4.16 billion, reflecting strong operating leverage as income growth significantly outpaced the increase in operating expenses. The group also recorded a 130% increase in its share of profit from equity-accounted investees to ₦4.14 billion, driven primarily by the strong performance of Central Securities Clearing System Plc, which has benefited from the same surge in settlement and custody activity that lifted transaction volumes on the exchange floor.

Profit after tax rose 146% to ₦10.36 billion from ₦4.22 billion, while the group's balance sheet remained robust, with total assets increasing to ₦75.87 billion and shareholders' equity rising to ₦60.49 billion from ₦55.20 billion at the end of 2025.

The board declared an interim dividend of ₦1.30 per ordinary share, up from the ₦1.00 interim paid in November 2025, with the qualification date, register closure and payment schedule to follow standard regulatory timelines. Group Chairman Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga said the dividend reflects the strength of the first-half performance and the board's confidence in the group's long-term prospects, noting that the ₦1.30 per share payout reflects both the progress made and the group's capacity to deliver sustainable long-term value.

The result sits neatly within a broader NGX growth trajectory. The group posted full-year 2025 pre-tax profit of ₦15.55 billion, a 14.26% increase from 2024, and followed that with a Q1 2026 pre-tax profit of ₦5.98 billion, already signalling that the full year was on course to surpass 2025. With ₦14.76 billion in the bank at the halfway point, the group has effectively already exceeded its full-year 2025 result with six months still to go.

The structural logic of the result is straightforward and worth stating plainly: NGX Group is a market infrastructure business, and market infrastructure businesses profit when their markets are active. The NGX All-Share Index has returned more than 55% year-to-date in 2026, market capitalisation has crossed ₦156 trillion, and average daily turnover in the first half ran at levels that have no precedent in the exchange's history. NGX Group did not generate those conditions, but it is the entity best positioned to monetise them, and the H1 2026 numbers confirm it has done exactly that.

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