Shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc closed among the five best-performing stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday, gaining 7% even as the broader market extended a two-session sell-off that lowered total equities value by more than N1.65 trillion.
The benchmark NGX All-Share Index fell 0.66% to 245,362.26 points, with market capitalisation easing to N158.34 trillion. Decliners outnumbered advancers 45 to 17, and the NGX Banking Index shed 2.04% as investors continued to take profit following the market’s July rally. Analysts at Cowry Asset Management said profit-taking was likely to persist across most sectors in the near term.
Against that backdrop, Sterling Financial was one of only 17 stocks to advance, ranking third among the day’s top gainers behind Legend Internet and Daar Communications. The counter traded 36.01 million shares valued at about N286.8 million.
The move followed the Group’s release of its unaudited results for the first half of 2026. Sterling Financial reported profit after tax of N50.30 billion, up 20.4%, and profit before tax of N55.50 billion, up 21.9%. Gross earnings rose 31.5% to N279.6 billion, led by a 33.7% increase in interest income, while net interest income climbed 41.0% to N137.4 billion.
The Group’s balance sheet continued to expand, with total assets up 19.3% to N4.67 trillion and customer deposits up 21.1% to N3.62 trillion.