Business
UBA records 37% profit growth, N490.3bn gross earnings in Q3’21
BY EMEKA EJERE
The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N123.4bn in the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, representing a 37 per cent rise from N90.4bn recorded in the same period of 2020.
According to the pan- African bank’s unaudited financial statements filed at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), its gross earnings rose to N490.3bn from N454.4bn, while operating income increased by 13 per cent year-on-year to N331.7bn from N293.7bn.
Profit After Tax (PAT) also rose significantly by 36 percent to N104.6 billion from N77.1 billion recorded a year earlier, thereby putting its annualised return on average equity for Q3 2021 at 19.2 percent compared to 16.4 percent recorded in the similar period of 2020.
The tier 1 lender continues to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with Total Assets of N8.3 trillion, an 8% increase over the N7.7 trillion recorded at the end of December 2020, just as it benefitted largely from its technology-led initiatives targeted at improving customer experience over the past few years, with Customer Deposits rising to N6.1trillion, representing a 7.2% increase from N5.7 trillion at the end of the last financial year.
Also, the shareholders’ funds remained very strong at N798.3 billion up by 10.3% from N724.1 billion recorded in December 2020, thus reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Kennedy Uzoka, said, “Once again, the bank has shown resilience in delivering on its commitment to shareholders, stakeholders, and the investing public, evident in the strong positive financial metrics recorded in the reporting period.”
He said UBA’s approach to risk management and the efficacy of its business strategy helped in keeping its loan growth steady at double digit, while still being able to moderate its cost during the period.
He added, “Looking ahead, we believe our huge investments in digital business following lessons learnt from the pandemic, will continue to pay off in delivering significant growth opportunities across our business operations even as the economy speedily heals from the impact/effect of the pandemic.”
The GMD said the company would continue to remain a bank holding firm and leverage its balance sheet and customer base to deliver results to its shareholders.
The Group CFO, Ugo Nwaghodoh said, “The performance reflects our progressive efforts in building on our robust balance sheet, strong customer base and our people, in delivering impressive earnings.
“Particularly, I am pleased at the 90bps improvement in Cost of Funds (CoF) from 3.2 percent to 2.3 percent in the period. This was despite the increase in our customer deposits by 7.2 percent to N6.1 trillion, portraying the Bank’s deliberate effort to substitute high-cost funds for low-cost deposits.”