Sterling Financial Holdings' nine-month profit rises 37% to ₦97.28bn
- Sterling Financial Holdings reported pre-tax profit of ₦97.28bn for the nine months to September 2026, up 37% from a year earlier.
- Gross earnings rose 33% to ₦454.94bn, while profit after tax grew 21% to ₦75.37bn.
- The group's total assets crossed ₦5 trillion, with customer deposits up 29% to ₦3.84 trillion.
Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc has reported a pre-tax profit of ₦97.28 billion for the nine months ended 30 September 2026, up 37.09% from ₦70.96 billion in the same period last year.
The group's unaudited results, approved on 27 October, show profit after tax rose 20.99% to ₦75.37 billion from ₦62.30 billion.
Gross earnings grew 33.15% to ₦454.94 billion, helped mainly by interest income, which rose 34.82% to ₦353.78 billion and made up about 78% of total earnings.
Interest earned on loans and advances to customers increased 39.65% to ₦244.42 billion, the biggest single contributor.
However, credit loss expenses jumped to ₦40.28 billion from ₦8.09 billion a year earlier, with ₦16.43 billion of that booked in the third quarter alone. That means a larger share of income went into provisions for loans that may not be repaid.
Income tax also rose to ₦21.91 billion from ₦8.66 billion, which limited the growth in profit after tax.
What it means for customers and shareholders
Customer deposits rose 28.74% to ₦3.84 trillion from ₦2.98 trillion at the end of December 2025, while loans to customers grew 28.77% to ₦1.82 trillion.
Total assets crossed the ₦5 trillion mark, rising 30.36% to ₦5.10 trillion, and shareholders' funds grew 38.83% to ₦595.16 billion, helped by retained earnings and proceeds from the group's public offering.
The group's non-performing loan ratio improved slightly to 4.6% from 4.7% in December 2025.
Basic earnings per share fell 11.47% to ₦11.35 from ₦12.82, based on figures restated for the company's share reconstruction.
Sterling's share price gained 1.32% on 28 October to close at ₦77.00, with 3.80 million shares traded, up from 487,524 the previous session.
Group chief executive officer Yemi Odubiyi said the results reflected the performance of the group's businesses and progress towards a diversified financial services model. He said SterlingFi Wealth Management had begun contributing to earnings in its second year of operations.
Sterling Financial Holdings includes Sterling Bank Limited, Alternative Bank Limited and SterlingFi Wealth Management, among other businesses.
What happens next
The results are unaudited. Investors will watch for the full-year figures and for how the group manages rising credit losses and tax costs in the last quarter.
