•Declares unprecedented interim dividend of N2 per share
•Total assets up by 37.2% to N28.3tn, customer deposits hits N23.2tn
•Declares profit before tax of N401.6bn
Kayode Tokede
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its audited financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2024, showing impressive performance across some key financial indicators.
The audited financials released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, showed that the bank recorded double-digit growth in its gross earnings and operating incomes.
At the end of the first two quarters of the year, and despite the tough global macroeconomic climate in Nigeria as well as the geopolitical environment challenges across major countries in Africa where the bank has subsidiaries, the results released yesterday, showed that UBA recorded a 39.6 per cent increase in its gross earnings, which rose from N981.77 billion in 2023 to N1.371 trillion in June 2024.
Interest income also increased by 134.3 per cent to N1.003 trillion up from N428.2 billion recorded in June last year, while total assets went up by 37.2 per cent from N20.6 trillion in December 2023 to close at N28.3 trillion.
Customer deposits, also leapt by 33.7 per cent in the same period to close at N23.2 trillion up from N17.3 trillion recorded at the end of 2023.
The results filed showed that profit before tax(PBT) which stood at N403 billion in June 2023, closed the half year at N402 billion, while profit after tax(PAT)dropped slightly from N378 billion to N316 billion in the year under consideration. However, the banks’ shareholders’ funds increased by 47 per cent from N2.03 trillion in December 2023, to N2.99 trillion.
In line with the bank’s culture of paying both interim and final cash dividends, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc declared a record-breaking interim dividend of N2.00 per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders, representing 300 per cent increase compared to the N0.50 declared in the similar period of 2023. This was the highest interim dividend ever paid by any bank in Nigeria
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba, while commenting on the results underscored the bank’s commitment to consistently deliver value to its shareholders. He said, “UBA Group has continued to deliver strong double-digit growth in high quality and sustainable banking revenue streams, driven by a focused growth in balance sheet, transaction and digital banking businesses across geographies in line with our strategic goals.”
Continuing, the GMD said, “The Group’s performance has been buoyed by consistent strong growth in all core and sustainable banking income lines. Our intermediation business showed strong growth with net interest income expanding by 143 per cent year-on-year to N675 billion.”
On the plans for the rest of the year, Alawuba said, “As the Group intensifies its customer acquisition drive, we are making significant investments in technology, data analytics, product research and innovation to enhance our value proposition and customer experience.”
The Executive Director Finance & Risk, Ugo Nwaghodoh, expressed delight at the milestone achieved by the bank in driving operational efficiency, as reflected in cost-to-income ratio normalising around the 50 per cent range.
“Our cost optimisation provides scope for further moderation, as we explore options towards a drastic reduction of our foreign currency denominated cost components, robotising and automation of processes and application of artificial intelligence to our operations,” he stated.
He disclosed that the Group would focus on effectively managing the heightened credit, operational, cyber and information security risks, as it continues to conduct its business within the tenets of our moderate risk appetite in alignment with our sustainability goals.
“The Group has made significant progress and is on course to shore up its share capital to support its medium to long term aspirations, whilst aligning with the recent regulatory requirement in Nigeria and other jurisdictions. that we operate in,” Nwaghodoh further explained.
UBA is a leading pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than 35 million customers, across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries.
With presence in New York, London, Paris and Dubai, 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.