First HoldCo Plc Chairman Femi Otedola has attributed the decline in profit for 2025 at First HoldCo to a planned N748 billion one-time impairment aimed at writing off bad loans on the balance sheet and strengthening the bank.
Otedola provided this clarification in a statement shared on his X page.
This situation arose because the company’s financial results for 2025 revealed a significant drop in pre-tax profit despite strong underlying interest income, leading investors to raise concerns about the company’s financial well-being.
What Otedola said
According to Otedola, the steep earnings decline reflects a strategic balance-sheet clean-up rather than weak business performance.
“At First HoldCo we decided to clean house properly. We took a huge one time hit of N748bn to admit old bad loans instead of pretending they do not exist. That is why profit looks like it crashed by 92%. Painful headline, but it is a serious long-term move,” he said.
Explaining the timing, Otedola said …
“Why do this now? Because the CBN is pushing banks to stop kicking problems down the road. So First HoldCo basically closed the chapter on messy loans from past years which sends a clear message that borrowing has consequences and it helps rebuild trust.
“The key point is this: our business itself is STILL strong. It made N2.96tn in interest income and N1.91tn in net interest income, which gave it the strength to take the clean up and still stay standing,” he said
Moving forward, Otedola said First HoldCo is entering 2026 lighter and better prepared for sustainable growth.
“Bad loans cleared + strong income engine + long term thinking = real value creation,” he added
