Photo caption: Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc headquarters
Investors kept faith with Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc on Thursday, sending its shares up 7% and into the ranks of the Nigerian Exchange’s top gainers, days after the Group unveiled a stronger set of half-year results.
The share-price gain was notable for the company it did not keep. The broader market fell for a second day running, shedding more than ₦1.65 trillion over the two sessions as the All-Share Index slipped 0.7% and only 17 stocks managed to close higher. Sterling Financial was one of them, ranking third among the day’s risers and trading 36.01 million shares worth about ₦286.8 million.
Sterling Financial’s first-half 2026 profit rose to ₦50.30 billion, helped by wider margins and a growing loan book, while its balance sheet edged toward the ₦5 trillion mark. The Group cast the outcome as a sign that recent investment in its technology and operating model is beginning to show through.
The shape of the earnings drew as much notice as their scale. Gross earnings climbed 31.5% to ₦279.6 billion, spread across a 33.7% rise in interest income and a 23.3% increase in non-interest lines to ₦56.0 billion, helped by fees and other operating income. A deposit base up 21.1% to ₦3.62 trillion widened the funding pool the Group can lend from into the second half.
The results also followed a ₦96.6 billion public offer completed during the period, which reinforced the Group’s capital base while enlarging its share count, leaving earnings per share at 77 kobo even as absolute profit climbed. Sterling Financial spans conventional banking, non-interest finance and wealth management through its Sterling Bank, Alternative Bank and SterlingFI arms.
Market-watchers cautioned that broader sentiment stays fragile, with profit-taking expected to weigh on trading in the near term regardless of individual company results.
