FBN Holdings Plc on Monday presented its unaudited financial report showin that it had a good start for the year 2024 with the first quarter net profit soaring by 315.77%, significantly faster than the 181.29% rise in gross revenue for the period. The growth in profit after tax was however despite the N97.79bn, up from just N3.025bn; and the N42.894bn impairment charge for losses, which rose from N16.897bn.
According to the report presented through the Nigerian Exchange Limited, FBN Holdings reported gross earnings of N730.272bn, up by N470.667bn from N259.607bn. The bulk of which was the N682.528bn by Commercial Banking Group, followed by N45.626bn. Also, the lion’s share of revenue was Nigeria’s N568.505bn, from N214.718bn, while from outside Nigeria it raked in N161.767bn from N44.789bn in the same period of last year.
The increase was driven by interest income of N454.981bn, compared to the previous N179.61bn, with customer loans and advances contributing N261.981bn as against the previous N119.412bn, while investment securities accounted for N146.513bn compared to N48.931bn. Interest expense also grew from N67.763bn in the same period to N226.418bn, with expense on customer deposit of N131.801bn, rising from N46.598bn; followed by deposit from banks which rose from N14.498bn to N66.287bn. This left a net interest income of N228.563bn, up from N111.847bn. Net interest income after impairment charge for losses came to N185.669bn, up from N94.95bn, of which impairment loss rose from N41.904bn from N18.88bn.
Fees and commission income increased to N63.601bn from N42.867bn, the lion’s share of which was the N16.924bn earned from electronic banking fees, a drop from N17.876bn; just as fee and commission expense stood at N9.651bn from N7.57bn; bringing net fee and commission income to N53.95, aganst the previous N35.297bn.
The impact of the foreign exchange loss and impairment charges for loan losses was however mitigated by the robust net gains from financial instruments at FVTPL of N288.937bn, compared to the previous first quarter’s N2.049bn; just as net gains on sale of investment securities fell from N33.281bn to N12.034bn; among others. Personnel expenses rose by over 100% from N31.298bn to N64.935bn; depreciation, amortisation and impairment climbed to N13.633bn from N7.152bn; even as other operating expenses grew to N134.21bn from N72.722bn.
This resulted in profit before tax of N238.631bn from N56.105bn; while income tax expense of N30.368bn, up from N6.019bn in 2023, brought net profit for the year under review to N208.163bn from N50.086bn. This translated to N5.76 Earnings Per Share, compared to the N1.38 reported in the corresponding period of 2023.
On the balance sheet, total assets grew to N21.582tr at the end of March 2024, up from N16.937tr at the end of last year; boosted by the N8.424tr customer loans and advances which rose from N6.359tr. Total liabilities increased from N15.188tr to N19.665tr of which customer deposits amounted to N13.267tr from N10.863tr. Total shareholders’ funds jumped to N1.915tr from N1.747tr.
