Stanbic IBTC posts 69% profit jump as balance sheet strength deepens in 2025

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc recorded a strong earnings rebound in 2025, with profit after tax rising by 69 percent to N380.8 billion, from N225.3 billion a year earlier. The performance reflects a combination of higher interest income, resilient non-interest revenue, and a significantly strengthened balance sheet.

The figures are contained in the group’s unaudited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025. Stanbic IBTC operates a diversified financial services model, spanning commercial banking, asset management, pensions, insurance, and investment banking, an advantage that has increasingly shown in earnings stability.

Net interest income rose sharply to N585 billion, representing a 42.5 percent increase from N410.5 billion in 2024. The expansion was supported by loan growth, improved asset yields, and a still-wide interest rate environment that favoured banks with relatively strong deposit franchises. The result suggests that Stanbic was able to reprice assets faster than liabilities, even as funding costs remained elevated across the system.

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Non-interest income also delivered solid growth, though at a more moderate pace. Fee, trading, and other non-funded income climbed by 31 percent to N310.7 billion in 2025, from N236.4 billion in the prior year. This performance underscores the importance of the group’s investment banking, asset management, and insurance operations in cushioning earnings during periods of interest rate volatility.

At the earnings level, Stanbic IBTC posted earnings per share of N23.68. At current market prices, this translates to a price-to-earnings ratio of about 4.6 times. While this places the stock among the higher-valued names in the Nigerian banking space, analysts note that the valuation is supported by the group’s balance sheet quality rather than pure multiple expansion.

The group’s total assets expanded to N8.62 trillion in 2025, up 24.7 percent from N6.91 trillion in 2024. Growth was driven largely by increases in loans and advances, as well as higher financial investments. This asset expansion occurred alongside a marked strengthening of equity buffers.

Net assets rose by 68 percent to N1.12 trillion, from N670.6 billion a year earlier. Capital levels also increased significantly, with total equity reflecting both retained earnings and balance sheet revaluation effects. As a result, Stanbic’s equity-to-total assets ratio improved to about 13 percent, from 9.7 percent in 2024.

This stronger capital position fed directly into returns. The group delivered a return on equity of roughly 42 percent in 2025, placing it among the most efficient large financial institutions in Nigeria. Such a return profile, combined with a relatively underleveraged balance sheet, suggests room for further loan book expansion without immediate pressure on capital adequacy.

Stanbic IBTC’s 2025 performance highlights the advantage of scale, diversification, and disciplined balance sheet management in a volatile macroeconomic environment. While risks remain, particularly around asset quality and funding costs, the group enters 2026 with stronger buffers and enhanced capacity to grow risk assets.

For investors, the results reinforce Stanbic’s positioning as a high-return, balance-sheet-led franchise rather than a purely cyclical earnings play.

David Olujinmi is a financial journalist, with a knack for reporting and analysing the capital markets. He has experience in reporting the Nigerian and African financial scene.

With a Bsc in Chemical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, he has a significant grasp of numbers that has aided his understanding of the financial context.

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