The board of FCMB Holdings Plc, on Tuesday recommended a dividend of 10 kobo per share for the full year ended December 31, 2016, same as shareholders received in the corresponding period of 2015, despite a three-digit growth in profit, which was significantly faster than gross earnings income during the period.
According to the result presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), gross earnings income rose N23.94bn or 15.63% to N176.351bn from N152.507bn in the corresponding period of 2015.
A breakdown of the earnings shows that interest income rose slightly to N125.109bn from previous N123.583bn; interest expense fell from N59.646bn to N55.575bn, bringing net interest income to N69.533bn from N63.936bn. Fee and commission income slipped to N17.683bn from N18.998bn, even as fee and commission expenses was flat at N3.502bn from N3.164bn. leaving net fee and commission income at N14.181bn from N15.834bn.
Net trading income soared to N5.687bn from N940.285m; while other income stood at N27.85bn from N8.835bn; with net operating income at N33.559bn, compared with the previous N9.925bn.
These gains were watered down by a net impairment loss on financial assets of N35.522bn from previous year’s N15.033bn; personnel expenses fell slightly to N24.804bn from N25.487bn; just as general and administrative expenses rose slightly from N24.845bn to N25.654bn. Other operating expenses of N10.841bn from N12.282bn in 2015, left results from operating activities of N15.978bn, more than double previous year’s N7.684bn
Profit before tax rose from N7.768bn to N16.251bn, representing an N8.483bn or 109.2% growth; while net profit grew by N9.578bn or 201.19% to N14.338bn from N4.107bn, helped by the 128.04% reduction in income tax expense from N2.107bn to N924.151m.
The year’s net profit translated to 72 kobo earnings per share, compared to 24 kobo EPS in 2015.
On the balance sheet, the group reported total assets of N1.172tr from the previous year’s N1.159tr, with total loan at N659.937bn, compared with the previous N592.957bn. Total liabilities stood at N993.905bn, down slightly from N997.142bn with customer deposits of N657.609bn, down from N700.216bn in 2015. Also, non-performing loan for the year stood at N25.474bn, a little above previous year’s N25.37bn, while non-performing loan as a ratio of gross loans and advances fell to 3.74%, down from 4.15% in 2015 and well below the regulatory threshold of 5%, at a time when average industry ratio stood at 10%, as noted some weeks ago by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).