United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has delivered a 16.1 per cent profit growth in second quarter, moving up to N70.3 billion from the N60.6 billion recorded same period in 2021.
Its profit before tax also grew by 12.6 per cent to N85.7 billion, up from N76.2bn recorded in the same period of 2021.
The feat came despite numerous business, economic as well as geo-political environmental challenges including continued supply-chain interruptions due to Covid, the Russia and Ukraine conflict, and the resultant rise in prices of global commodities, that characterised the first six months of the year.
The tier-1 lender delivered impressive numbers, with gross earnings hitting N372.4 billion, a solid 17.8 per cent growth up from the N316 billion that was posted the same period in the prior year.
Operating income also grew by 20.1 per cent to N256 billion in the period while its total assets peaked at about N9 trillion, an increase of 5.4 per cent.
A further breakdown of the Bank’s half-year result filed with the Nigerian Exchange Group(NGX), in the early hours of Thursday, September 8,
showed the bank delivered on its core mandate of extending loans to credit-worthy customers, with loans and advances increasing by 4 per cent to N3 trillion; whilst deposits rose by 7.9 percent to N7.6 trillion at the end of the period.
Shareholders’ funds however declined marginally by 2 per cent to N788.5 billion, owing mainly to the decline in its foreign operations reserve as well as fair value losses suffered from the investment securities valuation occasioned by the increasing interest rate regime across the globe.
With the strong double-digit growth in PAT vis-à-vis the marginal decline in shareholder’s fund, the Group’s return on equity (RoE) closed the period stronger at 17.7 per cent, whilst return on assets (RoA) came to 1.6 per cent, up by 9 basis points.
Consequently, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc has declared an interim dividend of 20 kobo per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders.
UBA’s Group Managing Director, Oliver Alawuba said the stellar performance was in line with management’s expectation, adding that the Bank’s continued focus on its Customer First philosophy to pursue the mission of providing superior value to our stakeholders had increased low-cost customer deposits, and boosted the growth of its payment and transaction banking.
“The financial year 2022 showed initial signs of recovery of economies across the globe, despite continued COVID-induced supply-chain disruptions. However, geopolitical challenges including the Russia and Ukraine conflict, resulted in escalation of global commodity prices, particularly that of grains and crude oil, which have taken a toll on several economies. Notwithstanding these developments, our half-year numbers came out stronger than the previous year, with top and bottom-line reaching new record highs,” Alawuba said.
The Bank also recorded a decent 20 per cent growth in net interest income as it continues to moderate cost of funds whilst improving yield on assets, thereby contributing to the strong 20 per cent growth in operating income.
“Our investments in state-of-the-art technology has continued to yield expected results and this is evident in the huge boost of our digital banking income, which grew 22.7 per cent year-on-year to N36.3 billion. These gains have enabled us optimise net earnings amid the accelerating inflationary pressure, currency devaluation, and increased regulatory-driven costs,” he said.
Alawuba also noted that he is delighted at the strides made by the Bank in growing its market share across Africa. In his words, “Our retail business has continued to grow as we ride on our agency banking network, trusted brand, competitive product offerings and quality service delivery, to deepen our retail penetration,”
He also commented on his recent appointment as Group Managing Director alongside five other Group Executive Directors and assured the investing public of his relentless commitment to the growth of the business.
“Together, with our highly motivated workforce, we are poised to usher the business into a new era of growth that will deliver superior value to all stakeholders,” he said.
UBA is a leading pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty-seven million customers across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries.
With presence in New York, London and Paris and now the UAE, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.
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