Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) dominated trading on the Nigerian Exchange on Tuesday with investors exchanging 88.73 million shares valued at N11.73 billion, a day after the financial services group released its audited results for the first half of 2026.
GTCO’s N11.73 billion turnover accounted for approximately 34.2 percent of the N34.30 billion total value of equities traded on the Nigerian Exchange during the session.
The company was also the most actively traded stock by volume, ahead of UBA, Fidelity Bank, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank.
The heightened trading activity followed the release of GTCO’s audited financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2026.
The financial services group reported gross earnings of N1.107 trillion, up from N1.073 trillion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Profit before tax stood at N603.03 billion, compared with N600.90 billion in the first half of 2025.
However, profit after tax declined to N414.19 billion from N449.01 billion, while profit attributable to equity holders of the parent decreased to N408.54 billion from N441.29 billion.
Basic earnings per share consequently stood at N11.18, compared with N13.59 in the corresponding period of 2025.
GTCO said its earnings performance was supported by growth in its core operations with interest income and trading income increasing by 7.5 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively.
The group, however, recognised a N46.2 billion fair-value loss during the period, which moderated the overall growth in profit before tax.
Its balance sheet remained sizeable, with total assets closing the period at N18.6 trillion and shareholders’ funds at N3.3 trillion.
Customer deposits increased 10.3 percent from N12.87 trillion at the end of December 2025 to N14.19 trillion as of June 2026, while the group’s net loan book increased marginally from N3.13 trillion to N3.15 trillion.
The board also proposed an interim dividend of N1 per ordinary share for shareholders.
The release of the results was followed by substantial activity in GTCO shares on Tuesday with the stock alone accounting for more than one-third of the total value of equities traded on the NGX.
Overall, investors traded 548.67 million shares valued at N34.30 billion across 47,301 transactions during the session.
UBA followed GTCO on the activity table with 48.84 million shares valued at N2.23 billion, while Fidelity Bank recorded 45.64 million shares worth N1.04 billion.
Access Holdings traded 41.81 million shares valued at N1.29 billion, while Zenith Bank recorded 34.21 million shares worth N4.55 billion.