Directors of Access Bank Plc recently presented its unaudited financials for the nine-month ended September 30, 2020, highlights of which were the restating of the 2019 report; and 15% growth in net profit, despite the decline in interest income, and a significant jump in net impairment charges, profit for the period rose to N102.3bn, representing a N13.862bn or 15.67% from N88.437bn reported in the corresponding period of 2019.
Gross earnings stood at N592.786bn, up by N79.131bn or 15.4% from N513.655bn in the first nine months of last year, to N592.86bn; boosted by interest income of N375.284bn, which fell from N405.025bn; even as the management successfully cut interest expense down at N179.01bn as against N194.807bn, resulting in a net interest income of N196.273bn, as against the N210.218bn reported last year.
A breakdown of the revenue showed that the lion’s share came from the corporate & investment banking segment contributed the lion’s share of N258.525bn; followed by retail N154.562bn; commercial banking, N140.89bn; while business banking added N38.808bn.
Net credit impairment charge soared to N34.24bn from N10.61bn; the bulk of this was the N20.624bn from corporate & investment banking; followed by N10.229bn from the commercial banking segment. It could have been more, but for the N2.406bn write-bank reported in the business banking segment. Net interest income after impairment charge therefore stood at N162.033bn, compared to the N199.607bn in 2019.
Fee and commission income, however, improved from N66.895bn in the prior nine-month to N87.883bn; expense rose from N10.885bn to N16.041bn; leaving net fee and commission income of N71.841bn, compared to N56.01bn.
The group’s position was significantly enhanced by the N84.192bn net gains on financial instruments, as against just N3.326bn in 2019; just as net foreign exchange gains soared to N12.637bn from N5.15bn; other operating income slowed down marginally from N33.257bn to N32.789bn; while personnel expenses stood at N57.094bn from N54.699bn. Depreciation rose from N14.21bn to N18.659bn; amortization and impairment increased from N5.403bn to N7.275bn; and other operating expenses from N122.236bn from N163.843bn.
Profit before tax therefore rose from N100.802bn to N116.622bn; income tax increased marginally from N12.364bn to N14.322bn, the lion’s share of which was the N75.341bn reported from corporate and investment banking; followed by N20.311bn and N15.393bn from retail and commercial banking respectively during the period. Net profit for the period, therefore, translated to Earnings Per Share of N2.90, from N2.71 each.
On the balance sheet, total assets soared to N7.924tr from N7.143tr, boosted by the N3.087tr in customer loans and advances, compared to N2.911tr; while total liabilities improved from N6.536tr to N7.245tr, of which customer deposits increased to N5.263tr, from N4.255tr. Shareholders fund rose to N679.463bn from N606.739bn.