Elegbede Abiodun
The first quarter of 2026 marked a definitive pivot for First HoldCo Plc, as the parent entity of Nigeria’s oldest commercial bank re-established itself as a financial powerhouse
First Holdco Plc delivered a masterclass performance in its first-quarter 2026 financials, recording a 100% year-on-year profit before tax (PBT) growth. Profit before tax (PBT) jumped to N321.12 billion from N186.48 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, supported by steady interest-earning capacity and robust fee income generation.
The first quarter of 2026 marked a definitive pivot for First HoldCo Plc, as the parent entity of Nigeria’s oldest commercial bank re-established itself as a financial powerhouse.
Emerging from a period of aggressive balance sheet restructuring characterised by massive legacy debt write-offs in late 2025, the group’s Q1 2026 performance represents a “phoenix-like” Strategic reset.
Post-2025 balance-sheet cleanup
First Holdco Plc’s Q1 2026 results also established the Group as the second-largest Nigerian lender by absolute profit before tax, trailing only Zenith Bank.
In Q1, 2026, Zenith Bank reported PBT of N360.91 billion, FirstHoldCo Plc N321.12 billion, GTCO N302.89 billion, Access Holdings N272.2 billion and UBA N160.65 billion.
This renaissance is not merely a product of the high-interest-rate environment currently prevailing in Nigeria, where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has maintained its hawkish stance with a 26.5% Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to anchor inflation.
Rather, it is the result of a deliberate “kitchen-sinking” of bad assets in the 2025 financial year, which saw the Group take a historic N826.3 billion impairment charge to resolve historical asset quality concerns once and for all.
This strategic “cleansing” has liberated the balance sheet to capture the full upside of the current lending cycle, allowing FirstHoldCo Plc to lead the market in the most critical measures of shareholder value creation.
The Profitability Outperformer: Return on Equity Leadership
FirstHoldCo Plc’s standout metric for the first quarter of 2026 is its Return on Equity (ROE). This parameter serves as the ultimate barometer for management’s ability to generate earnings from the capital entrusted to them by shareholders.
For Q1 2026, FirstHoldCo Plc delivered a post-tax ROE of 31.6%, effectively eclipsing the entire FUGAZ group. This represents a staggering turnaround from the 4.6% recorded in December 2025, which was heavily weighed down by the balance sheet reset.
The leadership in ROE is particularly noteworthy given the simultaneous recapitalisation efforts across the industry, which naturally exerts downward pressure on ROE and indicates that FirstHoldCo Plc’s earnings power is scaling faster than its capital dilution.
The Revenue Engine: Optimised Asset Mix
FirstHoldCo Plc’s outperformance is structurally rooted in its superior asset yield, particularly within its loan book. Unlike some peers who have historically relied on the “carry trade” of government securities, FirstHoldCo Plc has aggressively pivoted toward private sector credit. In Q1 2026, the group generated N465.6 billion in interest income from loans and advances to customers, representing a 27.8% increase from the prior year.
This growth in customer loan income is significantly higher than that of its closest rivals. FirstHoldCo Plc is finding higher-quality lending opportunities in a tight liquidity environment.
Operational Resilience
FirstHoldCo Plc’s Cost-to-Income Ratio (CIR) improved remarkably from 53.8% in late 2025 to 45.2% in Q1 2026. While it still trails GTCO (the industry efficiency benchmark at 30.9%) and Zenith (43.5%), it has significantly outperformed Access Corp (55.8%) and UBA (61.2%). The improvement in FirstHoldCo Plc’s ratio is even more impressive when considering that its total operating expenses rose 21.3% year-on-year to N297.6 billion. The key to this outperformance is “positive operating leverage”—the group’s net earnings grew by 40.2%, effectively “outrunning” its expense growth.
Recovery and Credit Quality
The most profound turnaround in FirstHoldCo Plc’s financial profile is found in its “Other Non-Interest Income,”
specifically the “Recoveries” line item. In Q1 2025, the group reported a modest N1 billion in loan recoveries; by Q1 2026, this figure surged by 1570% to N19 billion. This outperformance in debt recovery is a direct consequence of the 2025 balance sheet reset. Having aggressively written off legacy non-performing loans (NPLs), the bank’s specialised recovery units are now clawing back value from these assets, which flows directly to the bottom line as non-interest income.
Balance Sheet Dynamics: Liquidity and Funding
FirstHoldCo’s balance sheet reflects a bank that is both liquid and well-positioned for the “normalisation” phase of the economy. Total assets stood at N26.8 trillion in March 2026, a slight 1.4% decline from December 2025, primarily due to the strategic balance sheet management.
FirstHoldCo Plc Resets and Positions for Growth in 2026 and Beyond
By taking the painful but necessary steps to reset its balance sheet in 2025, FirstHoldCo Plc has entered 2026 as a leaner, more profitable, and more efficient competitor.
Its leadership in ROE and PBT growth is not an accident of the market but a direct result of management’s focus on high-yield customer lending and aggressive asset recovery, making it the industry’s most efficient engine for creating shareholder value.
As the benefits of the group recapitalisation take hold and the market digests its Q1 results, the current valuation gap between FirstHoldCo and other tier-one rivals like Zenith and GTCO is expected to narrow.
