What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) posted a net profit of N905.6 billion in the first half of the year, as a mixed bag of favourable factors helped propel its bottom line to the highest level ever reached by any Nigerian quoted company.

The figure is roughly double the after-tax profit of Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s biggest company by market value, for last year.

The pretty remarkable result reflects the sheer magnitude of the fortune that lenders in the country continue to derive from the harsh macroeconomic trends like inflation and currency devaluation besetting manufacturers and other businesses.

The perfect picture of how well the financial institution turned the tide to its advantage is perhaps most evident in net profit margin, which represents how much of revenue has been turned into profit, often calculated as profit after tax as a percentage of revenue.

Net profit margin for the period stood at 65 per cent, compared to 41.7 per cent in the same period of last year.

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