Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc has posted a profit after tax of N17.2 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, more than doubling the N7.5 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024. The company achieved this impressive performance by increasing its interest income by 42% to N78.4 billion, up from N55.3 billion in Q1 2024.
The financial services firm drove its growth by surging net interest income to N47.4 billion, up from N27.2 billion the previous year. Sterling Financial also sharply increased its operating income to N64.3 billion, supported by higher net fees and commission income of N10.1 billion and other operating income of N3.9 billion.
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However, the company faced rising expenses, with total operating costs increasing by 32% to N43.6 billion in Q1 2025. Personnel expenses accounted for N10.6 billion of this figure, while general and administrative expenses rose to N14.4 billion. Despite these costs, Sterling Financial’s strong revenue growth led to a significant improvement in earnings per share (basic and diluted) to 38 kobo, up from 26 kobo a year earlier.
The company’s balance sheet also showed positive growth, with total assets increasing modestly to N3.64 trillion as of March 31, 2025. Sterling Financial grew its loans and advances to customers to N1.15 trillion and customer deposits to N2.58 trillion. The group’s equity base strengthened to N321.4 billion, up from N305.2 billion at the end of the previous year.
Sterling Financial experienced a net cash outflow from operating activities of N157.4 billion during the period, which the company attributed to changes in operating assets and liabilities. The company also saw significant outflows in investing and financing activities, with N103.9 billion and N69.1 billion, respectively.
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