INVESTORS in FCMB Group Plc will have to wait on or before December 29 to obtain the financial results of the financial services group for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, as an interim audit of its banking subsidiary delays publication of the accounts.
The group disclosed this in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) following a board meeting held on October 23, 2026, where directors approved the unaudited financial statements for the third quarter.
FCMB Group said it had obtained an extension from the NGX to allow auditors to complete the interim audit of First City Monument Bank Limited, its largest subsidiary, before filing the consolidated results.
The company explained that the subsidiary’s financial performance has a material impact on the group’s consolidated accounts, making the completion of its audit necessary before the group can publish its results.
The revised deadline is December 29, compared with the October 30 statutory reporting deadline for the nine-month financial statements.
The delay means shareholders and market analysts will have to wait longer to assess the group’s performance during the period, particularly its earnings, loan quality, operating expenses and capital position.
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Investors watch earnings after 99% profit growth
The forthcoming results will be particularly important to investors following the group’s strong earnings performance in the first half of 2026.
FCMB Group reported a 99 percent increase in profit before tax to N157.3 billion in the six months ended June 30, 2026, from N79.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Its profit after tax also rose by 90 percent to N139.9 billion from N73.4 billion, while gross earnings increased by 27.8 percent to N676.2 billion from N529.2 billion.
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The growth was supported by a 31 percent increase in interest income and a 22 percent expansion in earning assets to N5.98 trillion from N4.90 trillion.
Net interest income climbed by 71.8 percent to N356.3 billion, while the group’s net interest margin improved to 11.2 percent from 9.1 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025.
The improvement reflected higher interest income, alongside a 2.7 per cent decline in interest expenses, which the group attributed to a better low-cost deposit mix and lower cost of funds.
Investors will be looking to establish whether the group maintained this momentum in the third quarter, particularly as changes in monetary conditions influence banks’ lending income and funding costs.
“I am interested in seeing what the bank does differently in the area of non-interest earnings. Other banks’ non-interest earnings are falling, so let’s see,” said an Lagos-based investor, Dr Chuks Emmanuel.
READ ALSO: FCMB’s profit climbs 24%, net interest income nearly doubles amid penalties
Rising impairment charges remain a concern
Despite the strong profit growth, FCMB Group’s first-half results showed increasing pressure from credit impairment charges.
Net impairment losses on financial instruments rose to N85.9 billion in the first half of 2026 from N36.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
The group attributed the increase partly to a deliberate clean-up of its Stage 2 loan portfolio, including approximately N63.4 billion in loan write-offs.
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The exercise helped reduce the Nigerian banking subsidiary’s non-performing loan ratio under Nigerian GAAP to 5.2 percent as of June 2026, bringing it closer to regulatory limits.
The development will make asset quality a major area of interest when the nine-month results are published.
Analysts are likely to examine whether the bank has contained further deterioration in its loan portfolio and whether the elevated impairment charges will continue to weigh on profitability.
The cost of managing credit risks is particularly important for banks because higher impairment provisions reduce the income available to shareholders, even when interest earnings and other revenue streams are growing.
READ ALSO: How FCMB fraud losses jumped 106-fold in a decade
“From an investor and banking analyst perspective, I would like to see FCMB move beyond strong headline profit growth and demonstrate that its earnings are sustainable, its loan book is healthy and its capital is being deployed productively,” said a Lagos-based bank worker, Kayode Adebulu.
“How much of FCMB’s loan portfolio is allocated to manufacturing, agriculture and MSMEs, and what concrete plans does the bank have to increase lending to these productive sectors? With interest income driving much of the group’s earnings growth, how sustainable is its profitability if interest rates decline?” asked Adebulu, who is also an economist.
Q3 earnings forecast points to N98.2bn profit before tax
FCMB Group’s third-quarter earnings forecast provides an indication of the performance management expected for the period, although the projections are not the final reported results.
The group’s forecast placed third-quarter gross earnings at N339.32 billion, with interest income projected at N294.98 billion and interest expenses at N131.60 billion.
This was expected to produce net interest income of N163.38 billion.
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The group also projected N30.54 billion in transaction commissions, N7.54 billion in securities trading income and N2.26 billion in foreign exchange earnings.
Net operating income was forecast at N207.72 billion, while operating expenses were estimated at N96.96 billion.
Based on these projections, FCMB Group expected profit before tax of N98.16 billion and profit after tax of N79.63 billion for the third quarter.
The actual results will show whether the group achieved these projections and how much its banking subsidiary contributed to the consolidated performance.
“FCMB’s impairment losses rose to N85.9 billion in H1 2026 from N36.2 billion a year earlier. I would like to see a significant reduction in new impairment charges.The key questions are: Are borrowers repaying their loans? Is the bank reducing its exposure to risky borrowers? Are Stage 2 and Stage 3 loans declining?” asked an economics lecturer at University of Lagos, who pleaded anonymity.
“Ultimately, I want to see earnings growth translate into stronger returns. I would examine return on equity, return on assets, earnings per share, dividend capacity and the bank’s ability to grow shareholder value without taking excessive risks.”
Digital business and operating efficiency
Another area investors will watch is the contribution of FCMB Group’s digital operations to revenue growth.
The group’s digital business, comprising payments, lending and wealth management, generated N89.1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026, compared with N73.6 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Digital revenue accounted for 13.2 percent of gross earnings during the period.
Operating expenses increased by 12.3 per cent to N172 billion from N153.2 billion, slower than the growth in gross earnings. This helped improve the group’s cost-to-income ratio to 41.4 percent from 57 percent in the first half of 2025.
“I would like management to disclose how much of this revenue translates into actual profit, how many customers are actively using its digital platforms and whether digital expansion is reducing transaction costs,” said an Abuja-based tech expert, Emmanuel E.Y. Ayade.
