Access ARM Pensions grew revenue by half to N42.4 billion in 2025, its first full financial year following the merger between Access Pensions and ARM Pensions, as the combined entity extracted operational savings and expanded its customer base.
Profit after tax climbed 48 per cent to N16.1 billion from N10.9 billion the previous year, while assets under management surged past N4 trillion, up from roughly N3 trillion in 2024. The pension fund administrator has positioned itself as one of Nigeria's largest in the sector. Shareholders approved a dividend payout of N2 per share at the company's annual general meeting in Lagos.
Abimbola Sulaiman, acting managing director and chief executive, said 2025 marked the first full year showing combined operations in the financial statements. ARM Pensions had only been part of the business for five months in 2024, so the 2025 numbers gave a complete picture of what the merger could deliver. She said the company successfully extracted substantial operational synergies, particularly through cost optimisation, while strengthening customer acquisition and expanding pension assets.
"We were able to extract significant synergies, particularly on the cost side. The business is strong, the brand is strong, and we recorded strong gains in customer acquisition and assets under management," Sulaiman said.
The company's growth rate outpaced the broader industry, largely driven by merger-related value creation and increased scale. Sulaiman noted that the jump from N3 trillion to N4 trillion in AUM represented significant growth that exceeded industry expansion. She said the company expects stronger performance over the medium term as integration benefits continue to mature across operations and revenue channels.
Mergers typically take one to three years before full integration benefits show up across cost optimisation and revenue synergy, Sulaiman explained. She said the company remained optimistic about its growth trajectory ahead as it continued working through these phases.
The pension industry itself is growing and becoming more consolidated, Sulaiman said, and Access ARM intends to leverage its solid position to strengthen competitiveness further. She pointed to growing opportunities as regulators continue pushing reforms aimed at widening pension penetration and deepening coverage across the country.
Sulaiman also addressed concerns about new regulatory capital requirements for pension operators. She said the company remained confident of meeting the threshold internally without diluting shareholders. The fact that Access ARM is able to pay dividends this year while still working towards meeting the new minimum capital requirement demonstrates the strength of the business, she said.
"We will meet the capital requirement before the deadline, and we will not require any external capital injection to do so," Sulaiman stated.
Shareholder Obinna Anyanwu described the company's commitment to shareholder returns as encouraging, saying he was excited about the outcome of the meeting and the company's consistent record of returning value to investors.
Access ARM Pensions will continue integrating operations as it pursues the remaining synergies from the merger, with full benefits expected to materialise within the next 12 to 24 months.
