By Peace Udugba
Shareholders of Access Holdings Plc have reaffirmed their confidence in the group’s long-term value creation strategy, expressing optimism that Nigeria’s largest financial services group is well-positioned to deliver sustainable returns and stronger shareholder value in the years ahead.
Speaking after the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), shareholders said Access Holdings’ performance over the past 15 months demonstrated the strength of its fundamentals and provided reassurance that its strategic transition from expansion to value creation would benefit investors over the long term.
With nearly one million shareholders, Access Holdings boasts one of the largest shareholder bases in Africa. More than three-quarters of its investors are retail minority shareholders, making them key stakeholders in the company’s growth journey.
Shareholders said they believe the group can leverage its strong financial position to generate attractive returns while advancing its vision of becoming Africa’s gateway to the global financial system.
Founding Coordinator and Leader of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, said investors had no fears about the future of the company, citing its transformation from a mid-tier lender into one of Nigeria’s biggest banks.
According to him, shareholders understood the rationale behind the board’s decision not to declare a dividend for the 2025 financial year, given the company’s track record and future growth prospects.
President of the Association for the Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), Dr. Faruk Umar, said Access Holdings had consistently earned shareholders’ trust through strong performance over the years.
“We’ve no cause to worry about Access Holdings. True, dividend is important to us shareholders, but when you consider the bigger picture, it is like keeping your money in a compounding interest account—you are going to get bumper returns at the end,” Umar said.
National Chairman of the New Dimension Shareholders Association, Patrick Ajudua, described the group’s growth as commendable, noting that gross earnings rose to N5.53 trillion in 2025, while total assets exceeded N51.53 trillion.
He said shareholders accepted the decision to suspend dividend payments, following explanations that the move was necessary to ensure compliance with regulations issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Ajudua, however, urged the board and management to intensify efforts to address impairment charges on financial assets and improve cost optimisation.
Similarly, Chairman of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Boniface Okezie, said the absence of a dividend should not be the sole yardstick for assessing corporate performance.
“With earnings per share at N13.48, the company is capable of rewarding shareholders. However, CBN regulations posed challenges to dividend distribution. If the banking subsidiary does not pay dividends, it naturally affects the holding company’s ability to do so,” he said.
Okezie urged regulators to consider the implications of policy decisions on investors and advised the board to consider declaring an interim dividend later in the year to reassure shareholders.
National Coordinator of ISAN, Moses Igbrude, also expressed confidence in the group’s outlook, describing Access Holdings as a robust and well-structured institution capable of delivering substantial value to investors.
According to him, the management team possesses the expertise needed to maximise the group’s resources and achieve its projections.
Access Holdings recorded a 16.2 per cent increase in pre-tax profit to N1.01 trillion in 2025, driven by strong growth in core banking operations. Interest income rose to N1.36 trillion, while net fees and commission income climbed by 41 per cent to N585 billion. Operating income increased by 23.9 per cent to N3.17 trillion, while gross earnings rose from N4.88 trillion in 2024 to N5.53 trillion in 2025.
Total assets expanded to N51.56 trillion, while shareholders’ funds rose to N4.33 trillion by December 2025. The cost-to-income ratio improved from 56.7 per cent to 51.7 per cent, while Return on Average Equity (ROAE) remained strong at 18.4 per cent.
Despite earnings per share of N13.48, shareholders approved the board’s decision to prioritise the restructuring of the group’s foreign investments to comply with regulatory requirements, leading to the non-declaration of dividends for the 2025 financial year.
The company maintained its growth momentum in the first quarter of 2026, posting a pre-tax profit of N272.1 billion, compared with N222.78 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Total assets increased to N54.44 trillion, while shareholders’ equity rose to N4.4 trillion as of March 2026.
Speaking at the AGM in Lagos, Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, reaffirmed the group’s commitment to long-term value creation, balance sheet resilience and disciplined growth.
“Periods of economic uncertainty often reveal more about an institution than periods of uninterrupted growth. Our focus remains on building a business that is not only growing, but improving in the quality, resilience and sustainability of its earnings,” he said.
Aig-Imoukhuede said the company’s new strategy, tagged “From Scale to Value,” represents the next phase of its evolution.
“Scale created opportunity; value creation is how we fully realise it,” he said.
He added that retained capital today must translate into greater value and sustainable returns for shareholders tomorrow.
“Our responsibility is to justify the confidence of our shareholders by building an institution that endures—one defined by clarity of purpose, discipline of execution and sustainable value creation over time,” he said.
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