By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) – United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc delivered 18 percent year-on-year growth in gross earnings in the first three months of 2018. The bank’s result released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period ended March 31, 2018 showed significant growth across major income lines.
Leveraging on strong growth in both interest and non-interest income, UBA grew Gross revenue to N119.4 billion in the first three months of the year compared to N101.2 billion recorded in the first three months of the year 2017.
Group recorded N26.6 billion in profit before tax, compared to N25.5 billion achieved in the first quarter of 2017. The Group also recorded a profit after tax of N23.7 billion in the first quarter, an impressive 6.2 percent year-on-year growth compared to N22.4 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2017. The group sustained its strong profitability recording an annualized 18 per cent Return on Average Equity (RoAE).
The Group managing director/CEO of UBA, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, expressed satisfaction with the bank’s impressive performance in the first quarter of 2018, despite intensifying competition and moderation in yield environment in Nigeria and Ghana.
“This set of first quarter result is a good start to the year and a reflection of our capacity to sustainably grow earnings over the medium to long term. We recorded 18 per cent growth in gross earnings, as both interest and non-interest income grew 18 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.
“Notwithstanding the moderation in sovereign yield in Nigeria and Ghana, we achieved a 60bps improvement in net interest margin (NIM) to 7.6 per cent, as we extract efficiency gains from balance sheet management,” Uzoka said.
He explained that the eight per cent year-to-date growth in retail deposit, reflected the benefit of improved customer service and continued customer acquisition, saying “we are committed to exceeding our 2018 deposit growth target in the year, with strategic focus on retail, low cost savings and current accounts, which is critical to sustaining our NIM uptrend.”
According to him, we are committed to responsible lending, as we seek to maintain our asset quality. We achieved a 40bps year-on-year savings in cost of risk, a reflection of the quality of our loan portfolio. He expressed confidence on the steady recovery of the Nigerian economy and improving fundamentals of most African countries, where the bank operates.
Uzoka emphasised the increasing relevance of its African operations to its bottom line, adding that, “reflecting our market share gain, we have grown the balance sheet by six per cent in the first three months of the year, as we increasingly become systemically important across the 19 other African countries, where we operate.
He pointed out that “barring unforeseen circumstances, we look forward to sustaining this strong performance through the year, with the primary objective of delivering superior return to our shareholders.”