Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola’s First HoldCo posts $684 million nine-month pre-tax profit

First HoldCo Plc, the parent of Nigeria's oldest lender FirstBank, increased its pre-tax profit by 61% in the first nine months of 2026, helped by strong growth in fee income, gains on trading and currency positions and lower charges for bad loans. The group is chaired and controlled by Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola.

Profit before tax rose to 911.2 billion naira ($684 million) in the nine months to Sept. 30, from 566.5 billion naira a year earlier, according to unaudited results filed with the Nigerian Exchange. Profit after tax climbed 65% to 744.5 billion naira ($559 million), and earnings per share rose to 16.45 naira from 10.65 naira.

In the third quarter alone, pre-tax profit rose 22.5% to 257.7 billion naira ($193 million), and profit after tax jumped 35.5% to 218.3 billion naira ($164 million).

Fees and trading drive growth

The group earned 2.09 trillion naira ($1.57 billion) in interest income and 1.26 trillion naira in net interest income over the nine months. Net fee and commission income rose 48% to 316.4 billion naira ($237 million). Financial instruments held for trading produced a gain of 104.6 billion naira, against a loss of 72.8 billion naira a year earlier, and foreign exchange gains rose to 86.2 billion naira. Impairment charges on loans fell 28% to 207.1 billion naira, and operating expenses dropped 8% to about 866.6 billion naira.

The balance sheet grew quickly. Total assets rose 18% from December to 32.2 trillion naira ($24.2 billion), customer deposits jumped 21% to 22.9 trillion naira, and loans to customers rose 4.8% to 9.39 trillion naira. Shareholders' equity increased 17% to 3.86 trillion naira ($2.9 billion).

The group has told investors it expects pre-tax profit of more than 1.2 trillion naira ($900 million) for the full year. It has reached 76% of that figure with a quarter left. First HoldCo is also raising capital to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria's higher minimum capital rules for banks with international licenses, and its share capital and share premium rose by 44.5 billion naira this year.

Otedola's stake

Otedola has spent heavily on First HoldCo stock this year through his investment company, Calvados Global Services Ltd. Between late July and the end of August he bought about 2.87 billion shares, including a single 222.2 billion naira block on July 30, and has said he wants to own more than half of the company.

He holds about 12.15 billion shares, or 26.7% of the 45.48 billion shares in issue. At Thursday's price of 131 naira, the stake is worth about 1.59 trillion naira, or $1.19 billion at an exchange rate of 1,333 naira to the dollar.

The shares have more than doubled since the start of July, when they traded at 57.20 naira, and First HoldCo is now worth about 5.96 trillion naira ($4.5 billion) on the Nigerian Exchange.

In September, First HoldCo became one of six Nigerian companies added to the FTSE Frontier 50 Index, which tracks the 50 most liquid stocks across the 26 frontier markets covered by index provider FTSE Russell. The others are Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria, Aradel Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Co. and Zenith Bank. The additions followed FTSE Russell's decision in August to restore Nigeria's frontier market status, nearly three years after it was downgraded over a foreign exchange shortage that made it hard for international investors to repatriate their money.

Otedola, 63, made his fortune in fuel distribution and power generation. He sold his stake in Forte Oil in 2019 and, late last year, sold a controlling stake in Geregu Power, the power company he took public in 2022, in a deal valued at $750 million. He became chairman of First HoldCo in 2024.