United Bank for Africa Plc, the pan African financial institution with a network that spans 20 African countries, the United Kingdom, the USA and with presence in Paris, has announced impressive performance in its unaudited 2019 Third Quarter Financial Results, with significant growth in Gross Earnings, which rose to N428.22 billion, representing a 14.2 percent increase when compared to N374.8billion recorded in September 2018.
UBA’s Profit Before Tax grew by 24.2 per cent to N98.2billion, up from N79.1billion in the same period of 2018. Similarly, its after tax net profit also grew significantly by 32.3% from N61.69billion recorded in September last year to N81.63billion in the period under consideration. This profit performance puts the Bank’s annualised return on average equity at 20.6%.
According to the report filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, UBA’s net operating income improved by 11.6 percent year-on-year to N265.99 billion compared to N238.36 billion achieved in the similar period of 2018.
Despite the double digit inflation rate in Nigeria(its largest market) coupled with uncertainties in the business environment in Nigeria and in some countries in the rest of Africa, UBA’s curtailed operating expenses only increased by 8.4 percent and this was largely due to regulatory costs.
The Bank continues to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with Total Assets of N4.96 trillion, an increase over the N4.87 trillion recorded in December 2018. Customer Deposits also grew to N3.37trillion. The shareholders’ fund remained very strong at N555.53 billion, rising by 10.5 per cent and reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation.
Commenting on the results, the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Kennedy Uzoka, said: “The resilience of our business model and our focused growth of earning assets have yielded a 10.8% growth in interest income. In addition to the commendable yield on interest earning assets, we also achieved a 22.1 per cent growth in non-interest income, driven largely by the increased penetration of our superior digital banking offerings, credit expansion, remittances and other lifestyle transactional services.”
