Access Bank Shares Delisted From Stock Market
Trading in the shares of Access Bank Plc on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has been suspended.
The step, Eighteen-Eleven Media gathered, is to prevent trading in the shares of the bank in preparation for its eventual delisting from the Daily Official List of the Exchange and listing of the holding company, Access Holding Plc on the Exchange.
A statement sent to shareholders of the company by a stock broken firm read: “This is to inform you that trading in the shares of Access Bank Plc (the Bank) has been suspended today, Thursday, 24 March 2022.
“The suspension is necessary to prevent trading in the shares of the Bank in preparation for the eventual delisting of Access Bank Plc from the Daily Official List of Nigerian Exchange Limited (the Exchange) and listing of the Holding Company, Access Holdings Plc on the Exchange.
This action is similar to the one taken by GTBank a few months ago, where the banking arm became a private banking company and the stocks were delisted from the exchange and transferred to GTCO and then listed on the local bourse.
Access Bank, like the other few banks, is exploring the possibility of expanding its operations by having different subsidiaries offering other services in the financial sector.
Meanwhile, Access Bank has released its audited full-year results for 2021, reporting Gross earnings of ₦972 billion, an impressive growth of 27.09% y/y. The bank continued its impressive earnings growth from the previous quarter, thanks to a 46.91% jump in Non-Interest Revenue (NIR) in Q4’21 to ₦119 billion and Q3’21 (₦81 billion), after making gains in investment income to counter the losses reported in Q2’21 (-₦50 billion).
Similarly, Interest Income rose by 22.99% y/y FY’21 to ₦601 billion. This rise came as the group recorded substantial loan growth of 28.0% y/y, however, Interest Expenses grew by 32.69% y/y to ₦300 billion from ₦226 billion in FY’20 driven by a 41.4% rise in interest on customer deposits, bringing Net Interest Income to 14.64% y/y to ₦301 billion. This meant that Net Interest Margin (NIM) for FY’21 (4.3%) was 60bps weaker than FY’20 (4.9%). In addition, Fees & commissions income increased 26.7% y/y, boosting NIR, following a significant increase in Credit-related fees & commissions and other E-business income. Notably, NIR’s contribution to net revenue surpassed 50% for the first time in FY’21, rising to 52.5% in FY’21. (FY’20: 49.0%).
