Access Bank releases cheering FY 2019 result, declares 40k final dividend

BY EMEKA EJERE
An audited financial statement of Access Bank Plc. for full-year 2019 released on Friday showed significant improvement in most of its performance indicators.
The bank has also declared a final dividend of 40 kobo per share, bringing the total dividend payout for the financial year ended December 31, 2019, to 65 kobo per share. It had declared an interim dividend of 25 kobo per share for the half-year June 30, 2019.
A notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicates that the lender recorded an 11.8% increase in profit for the period under review.
The gross earnings as at December 31, 2019, stood at N666.75 billion or an increase of 26.10% from the N528.74 billion which was recorded for the corresponding period for 2018.
The net interest income for full-year 2019 was N277.2 billion as against the N173.6 billion, which was recorded for the corresponding period for 2018, representing a massive 59.7% increase.
The bank’s net fee and commission income for full-year 2019 stood at N74.05 billion as against the N52.5 billion for the corresponding period for 2018, representing an impressive 41% increase.
The profit before tax for the group for full-year 2019 stood at N115.38 billion as against the N103.2 billion that was recorded for the corresponding period in 2018. This represents an 11.8% increase.
The profit after tax for the group for full-year 2019 stood at N97.5 billion as against the N94.98 billion which was achieved in a similar period in 2018. This represents a 2.7% increase.
The bank’s balance sheet shows that there was a massive jump in loans and advances to customers to N2.9 trillion as at December 31, 2019, as against the N1.9 trillion which was recorded in the corresponding period of 2018. This represents a 46.04% increase.Customers’ deposits as at December 31, 2019, stood at N4.25 trillion as against the N2.56 trillion which was recorded for the corresponding period in 2018, representing an impressive 65.9% increase.