eTranzact H1 2026 Revenue Hits ₦16.28B, Profit Falls

In Short

• eTranzact H1 2026 revenue rose 22.6% to ₦16.28 billion.
• Costs grew faster than revenue, so profit after tax fell to ₦1.22 billion.
• The company increased spending on agent banking and POS rollout.
• A new majority shareholder took control, and switching fees kept falling.

What Happened

eTranzact said revenue climbed to ₦16.28 billion in the first half of 2026, up from ₦13.28 billion a year earlier. The payments firm grew transaction activity while expanding its agent banking and POS network. POS means point-of-sale terminals, the card machines used by merchants and agents.

But profitability moved in the opposite direction. Cost of sales rose 39% to ₦9.50 billion, while gross profit grew just 5.1% to ₦6.78 billion. That pushed gross margin down to 41.6% from 48.5%.

Operating profit fell 23.2% to ₦1.59 billion. Profit before tax declined 19.1% to ₦1.75 billion, and profit after tax dropped to ₦1.22 billion.

The company also reported a sharper cash impact from expansion. It spent about ₦1.23 billion in capital expenditure in H1 2026, including roughly ₦850 million on POS deployment. Payments to suppliers and employees nearly doubled to about ₦21 billion, and operating cash flow swung from +₦1.14 billion in H1 2025 to -₦6.86 billion.

A major corporate change also happened in the period. Trademarks Global Concepts Limited held a 56.18% stake as of June 30, taking control. This replaced Access Bank Nigeria Plc’s previous 37.56% holding.

Why It Matters

eTranzact operates in payment switching, which is the “router” that moves bank transfers between institutions. In Nigeria, NIBSS NIP switching fees have been cut several times, from ₦5 per transaction to ₦2 in January 2026, with a zero-fee target by end-2026. Lower fees mean switches must grow volumes a lot just to maintain revenue per transaction.

The wider market is also shifting to the National Payment Stack, a new payments rail that could replace current NIP infrastructure. For operators like eTranzact, this raises execution pressure, invest more in distribution and keep costs under control while the unit economics of switching tighten.