First Holdco Plc has reported a 40.15 per cent year-on-year increase in interest income for the first quarter of 2025, hitting N625.281 billion, driven by a combination of aggressive loan growth and elevated interest rates.
The figure, released in its unaudited first quarter of 2025 financial results, is up from N446.146 billion reported in the same period of 2024.
The bank’s loan book expanded by 9.4 per cent within the three-month period, growing from N12.07 trillion at the end of December 2024 to N13.205 trillion as of March 31, 2025 — representing additional lending of over N1.13 trillion.
Despite this strong top-line performance, rising deposit costs continued to pressure margins. Interest expenses rose by 18 per cent to N260.09 billion, consuming 42 per cent of total interest income.
This marks a slight improvement from the 49 per cent cost-to-income ratio in the first quarter of 2024. Customer deposits, which reached N17.27 trillion after a quarterly growth of N99.2 billion, remained the biggest driver of interest expense at N156.43 billion.
Still, the bank recorded a 60.99 per cent year-on-year rise in net interest income to N365.19 billion, already representing over a quarter of its full-year 2024 figure. Following an 11.17 per cent reduction in impairment charges, net interest income after impairment rose an astonishing 286.2 per cent to N327.94 billion.