Restates 2019 Numbers, Offers N0.25 Div
Traders, investors, and keen followers of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) woke up Friday wake up to be greeted by the much expected 2020 half-year financials of Access Bank Plc released on the platform late Thursday night, showing a restatement of the group’s numbers for the corresponding period of 2019.
This is besides sustained high-interest expense, huge net foreign exchange loss, the marginal decline in net profit, and N11.586bn or 237.43% spike in the impairment charge which arose in the period under review from N4.879bn in the first half of 2019, to N16.465bn this year. These were however mitigated by the impressive net gains on financial instruments, just as the board still maintained an interim dividend of 25 kobo per share from earnings per share of N1.73, as against the previous N1.90. The directors propose to pay the interim dividend electronically into the bank accounts shareholders on September 28. The qualification date is September 17, as the register will be closed on Friday, September 18, 2020.
The directors propose to pay the interim dividend electronically into the bank accounts shareholders on September 28. Qualification date is September 17, as the register will be closed on Friday, September 18, 2020.
According to the result, Gross Earnings income rose by N72.382bn or 22.31% to N396.757bn, from N324.376bn, a breakdown of which showed that corporate & investment banking contributed the lion’s share of N151.978bn; followed by N112.977bn from commercial banking; while retail and business banking pooled N95.823bn and N35.71bn respectively.
Interest income slowing down to N211.99bn from N226.124bn; while interest income on financial assets dropped from N46.771bn to N34.731bn, lifted by N93.361bn from corporate & investment banking; N77.867bn from commercial banking, N21.638bn from business banking and N52.163bn. Total interest income was previously stated as N155.146bn. Interest expense climbed to N120.515bn, as against the N117.75bn for June 2019, boosted by the N56736bn from corporate & investment banking; ahead of N35.288bn from commercial banking. Net interest income therefore stood at N126.207bn from N155.146bn. Impairment losses was also reported in corporate & investment banking, which took the lead with N10.565bn; followed by commercial banking, N6.996bn.
Net interest income after impairment charges fell from N150.266bn in the first half of 2019 to N109.741bn.
Fee and commission income jumped from N41.858bn to N 51.774bn, but expense rose at a faster rate from N4.328bn to N11.182bn, leaving net fee and commission income at N40.592bn, up from N37.529bn.
Net gain on financial instruments soared from N4.145bn in 2019 to N134.84bn; net foreign exchange loss equally spiked to N66.222bn from N18.936bn; even as other operating income increased from N24.412bn to N29.642bn.
Personnel expenses increased from N31.245bn to N36.251bn; depreciation inched from N9.311bn to N12.531bn; amortization and impairment from N3.314bn to N4.829bn; while other operating expenses soared from N80.579bn to N120.675bn.
Profit before tax rose from N72.964bn to N74.306b, the bulk of which was the N37.854bn from corporate & investment banking; ahead of N20.843bn from commercial banking and N7.503bn in business banking; income tax for the period increased to N13.271bn; resulting in net profit of N61.034bn, compared to N61.873bn restated (from N63.025bn) profit from the previous half-year.
On its balance sheet, Access Bank reported total assets amounting to N7.742tr, one the largest in the industry, up from N7.118tr at the end of December 2019, with customer loans rising mildly from N2.911tr to N2.999tr. Total liabilities stood at N7.096tr, as against the N6.536tr in December; of which customer deposits stood at N4.667tr, up from N4.255tr. Shareholders’ equity increased from N606.739bn to N670.361bn.
