Fidelity Bank Plc commenced the 2025 fiscal year with a remarkable financial performance in the first quarter, showcasing robust growth across key metrics. The bank’s unaudited financial statements, filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, revealed a surge in gross earnings, reaching N315.4 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2025. This represents a significant 64.2% increase compared to the N192.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024. The impressive growth trajectory was primarily fueled by substantial improvements in interest income, significant foreign exchange revaluation gains, and an upswing in fee and commission income.
A deeper dive into the financial results reveals the underlying drivers of this stellar performance. Interest and similar income, calculated using the effective interest rate method, experienced a notable 58.1% rise, totaling N256.1 billion compared to N161.9 billion in Q1 2024. This surge in interest income underscores the bank’s effective deployment of funds and the prevailing interest rate environment. Furthermore, the bank generated N25.4 billion from other interest and similar income streams, a substantial jump from N8.2 billion in the prior-year quarter. While interest expense also witnessed an increase of 28.5% to N90.7 billion from N70.5 billion, the overall impact on net interest income was positive, resulting in a 91.5% surge to N190.8 billion, up from N99.6 billion in the same period of the previous year. This demonstrates the bank’s ability to manage its interest rate spread effectively.
Beyond interest income, Fidelity Bank registered advancements in its non-interest income segments. Fee and commission income grew to N23.8 billion from N18.3 billion in Q1 2024, indicating increased customer activity and enhanced service offerings. Notably, foreign currency revaluation gains contributed significantly to the bank’s earnings, reaching N9.8 billion, a remarkable 200.8% increase compared to N3.3 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. This highlights the bank’s strategic positioning to benefit from foreign exchange fluctuations.
However, the bank also navigated increasing operating expenses. Personnel expenses rose to N19.7 billion from N14 billion, reflecting potential investments in human capital and inflationary pressures. Depreciation, amortisation, and impairment charges also saw a significant increase to N8.7 billion from N2.2 billion, likely due to investments in infrastructure and technology. Other operating expenses also climbed to N87.5 billion from N52 billion, suggesting increased business activity and expansion initiatives. Managing these rising operating costs will be crucial for sustaining profitability in the long run.
Despite the elevated operating expenses, Fidelity Bank demonstrated robust profitability. The bank’s profit before income tax more than doubled, reaching N105.8 billion compared to N39.5 billion in the same period of 2024. After accounting for a tax charge of N14.7 billion, the profit for the period stood at an impressive N91.1 billion, marking a substantial 190% increase from N31.4 billion in Q1 2024. This impressive profit growth underscores the effectiveness of the bank’s strategic initiatives and its strong underlying business performance.
The first-quarter results translate to improved shareholder returns, with earnings per share rising to 181 kobo from 98 kobo in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Furthermore, the bank’s total comprehensive income, which includes other comprehensive income components like exchange differences on translation of foreign operations and revaluation gains on debt instruments, surged to N101.6 billion from N35.8 billion in Q1 2024. This signifies a comprehensive improvement in the bank’s financial position and its ability to generate value for shareholders. Supporting its growth strategy, Fidelity Bank also increased its issued share capital from N26.7 billion to N36.7 billion, as reported by The PUNCH. This move likely aims to strengthen the bank’s capital base and facilitate further expansion.
