Billionaire Femi Otedola's First HoldCo out-earns every major bank in Nigeria and South Africa

First HoldCo generated a return on average equity of 31.63% in the first quarter of 2026, higher than any other tier-1 bank in Nigeria or South Africa.

The figure appears in the company's own investor presentation, which sets its performance against four Nigerian competitors and six South African ones. Its half-year number was 30.37%.

Return on average equity measures what a bank earns on the capital its shareholders have put in, and it is the single number bank investors watch most closely. Anything above 20% is considered strong.

Nothing in either market matched it. Zenith Bank returned 24.90% in the quarter, GTCO 24.80%, Access Holdings 19.86% and United Bank for Africa 13.70%, giving a Nigerian median of 24.80%.

The South African comparison runs over twelve months rather than a quarter, which makes it less directly comparable, but the gap is wide. Capitec came closest at 29.12%, followed by FirstRand at 19.58%, Standard Bank at 18.73%, Absa at 13.67%, Investec at 12.46% and Nedbank at 7.44%. The median across the six was 16.20%.

What the two markets do not share is how they price those returns.

Capitec trades at 9.03 times book value and 31.87 times earnings, the most expensive bank on the continent by a wide margin, because South African investors have spent a decade paying a premium for its growth. First HoldCo trades at 1.91 times book and 17.56 times earnings.

It earns more on its equity than Capitec does and is valued at roughly a fifth of the multiple.

Among Nigerian banks, though, it is the expensive one. Access Holdings sits at 0.43 times book and 2.19 times earnings, Zenith at 1.01 and 5.01, UBA at 0.49 and 5.83, GTCO at 1.35 and 5.65. The Nigerian median is 1.01 times book and 5.65 times earnings, and First HoldCo trades at nearly twice the first and more than three times the second.

Its shares have risen 194.4% this year, the strongest gain of any Nigerian bank.

Nairametrics attributes that directly to continued disclosures showing its largest shareholder accumulating stock. Femi Otedola owns roughly 27.6% of the company and chairs it, the shares reached a record 159.90 naira on Sept. 1, and he has said publicly he intends to pass 51%. Sustained buying on that scale removes stock from circulation and lifts the price independently of anything the bank earns.

It has taken First HoldCo past 5 trillion naira in market value, a level only Zenith also reaches. GTCO sits just above 4.7 trillion, Stanbic IBTC around 2.4 trillion, UBA about 1.9 trillion and Access Holdings roughly 1.5 trillion.

The whole sector has re-rated. The NGX Banking Index gained 67.96% in the year to Sept. 14 against 56.35% for the broader market, and the twelve banks Nairametrics tracks went from 16.44 trillion naira in December to 27.61 trillion, adding 11.17 trillion. Average price to earnings across them rose from 4.38 times to 5.83, and price to book from 0.86 to 1.26.

Nigerian banks still trade below comparable lenders in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania.

There is a reason for the discount that bears directly on First HoldCo's own numbers. The naira's collapse after the 2023 foreign exchange reforms produced large currency revaluation gains that flowed straight into reported profits, and investors have found it difficult to separate those from recurring operating earnings. As the exchange rate stabilises, banks have to show that the returns come from lending, fees and transactions instead.

A return on equity above 30% looks different depending on which of those it came from.

Meshach Ukpoma of Morgan Capital Group said Nigerian banking stocks still look cheap and that decent profits can be made trading them, and expects the inclusion of several in the FTSE Russell Frontier 50 index to support foreign demand. First HoldCo is among ten Nigerian companies entering that index series on Sept. 21.

The company is the parent of FirstBank, the oldest bank in Nigeria, founded in 1894.