GTCO declares ₦1 interim dividend as half-year pre-tax profit hits ₦603bn

Updated 17:53 WAT, 29 Sep 2026: GTCO has set 12 October as the qualification date and 20 October as the payment date for its ₦1 interim dividend.

The GTCO interim dividend is back at ₦1 a share after Guaranty Trust Holding Company posted a pre-tax profit of ₦603.03bn for January to June 2026, in results released late on Monday.

GTCO is one of Nigeria’s biggest listed lenders, so its numbers ripple through pension funds, investment clubs and personal portfolios. This set shows a group still earning huge sums, but running into two headwinds: fair value losses and a far heavier tax bill.

Pre-tax profit rose just 0.4% from ₦600.9bn in the first half of 2025, according to the results statement reported by BusinessDay and other outlets. Interest income grew 7.5% and trading income jumped 24.7%. A ₦46.2bn fair value loss absorbed most of that gain.

The bottom line moved the other way. Nairametrics, which reviewed the filing, reported that income tax expense climbed 24.3% to ₦188.85bn. That pulled profit after tax down 7.8% to ₦414.19bn, while earnings per share fell 17.7% to ₦11.18.

Group chief executive Segun Agbaje insisted the underlying business is sound. “Fair value movements weighed on reported earnings, but the core business held firm,” he said in the results statement.

How much is the GTCO interim dividend worth to you?

The board approved an interim dividend of ₦1 per share. That matches the ₦1 GTCO paid at the half-year stage in 2025, according to the group’s release at the time.

For scale, an investor holding 5,000 GTCO shares would receive ₦5,000 before withholding tax. At Monday’s closing price of ₦137, the interim payout is worth about 0.7% of the share price.

Shareholders on the register at the close of business on 12 October qualify for the payout, which will be paid on 20 October to investors on the Nigerian Exchange, according to a dividend declaration dated 28 September that GTCO filed on the London Stock Exchange. The register closes on 13 October, and the payout is subject to withholding tax.

Holders of GTCO’s London-listed depositary interests will be paid in US dollars in early November, the filing said. The larger payout usually comes with full-year results; in April, GTCO announced what it called a record dividend for 2025.

Is GTCO still strong after its H1 2026 results?

The balance sheet looks sturdier than the profit line. Deposits rose 10.3% to ₦14.19trn from ₦12.87trn in December, total assets reached ₦18.6trn and shareholders’ funds stood at ₦3.3trn.

The group reported a capital adequacy ratio of 34.9%, a pre-tax return on equity of 35.9% and a cost-to-income ratio of 31.5%. Cost of risk, a measure of provisions for bad loans, fell to 0.6%.

Lending, however, barely moved. The net loan book edged up 0.5% to ₦3.15trn, meaning deposits grew roughly 20 times faster than loans over the period.

Agbaje said digital services are the lever for growth across banking, payments, pensions and funds management. “The priority now is to execute with discipline and grow responsibly,” he said.

What does the CBN rate cut mean for GTCO?

These figures cover January to June, before the Central Bank of Nigeria cut its benchmark rate by 350 basis points to 23% on 22 September.

Lower policy rates tend to trim what banks earn on treasury bills and bonds, even as cheaper credit can lift loan demand. How GTCO balances those two forces will show in its next set of numbers.

The wider market is in a buoyant mood. The Nigerian Exchange’s market capitalisation closed at a record ₦164trn on Monday, according to Nairametrics. GTCO shares ended the day unchanged at ₦137, before the results landed.

What happens next

Investors who want the ₦1 interim dividend need to be on GTCO’s register by the close of business on 12 October, with payment due on 20 October. Shareholders who have not completed an e-dividend mandate should do so to receive the money electronically, according to the filing.

Third-quarter results, covering July to September, are due by 30 October under NGX reporting timelines.

For now, the message to GTCO investors is simple: the dividends keep coming, even as the taxman takes a bigger bite.