Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, on Wednesday, presented its unaudited result for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, indicating that profit after tax grew at a faster pace than gross earnings for the period.
Gross earnings rose to N100.134bn, up by N27.016bn or 36.94% from N73.118bn in the corresponding period of last year, with interest income rise to N84.108bn from N55.833bn; while interest expense increased from N15.039bn in the first quarter of 2016 to N17.979bn. Net interest income therefore stood at N66.129bn, up from N40.793bn.
Loan impairment charges rose slightly to N3.813bn from N3.385bn; resulting in net interest income after loan impairment charges of N62.315bn, compared with N37.407bn in 2016.
The bank also earned income from fee and commission of about N16.025bn; down from N17.285bn, while fee and commission expense rose slightly to N585.261m, as against N567.05m in 2016 Q1, resulting in net fee and commission income of about N15.44bn, down from N16.718bn.
GTB also reported N3.676bn net gains on financial instruments classified as held for trading, from N1.171bn in 2016; while other income fell from N1.103bn in the first quarter of 2016 to N846.079m.
Personnel expenses for the period rose to N8.192bn from N6.784bn; operating lease expenses grew from N397.09m to N456.637m; depreciation and amortization climbed to N4.142bn from N3.32bn. Other operating expenses increased by N3.871bn or 15.42% from N15.223bn to N19.094bn.
Profit before tax rose to N50.392bn from N30.675bn; while income tax expense of N8.914bn, compared with N5.061bn, left net profit at N41.477bn, as against N25.614bn, representing an increase of N15.863bn or 61.93%; which translates to Earnings Per Share of 147 kobo from 90 kobo in the first quarter of 2016.
On the balance sheet, total assets stood at N3.164tr, up from N2.713bn in 2016. Cash and cash equivalents rose from N455.598bn from N287.238bn; customer loans and advances increased from N1.391tr to N1.562tr; while total liabilities rose to N2.617tr from N2.197tr, comprising N2.011tr customer deposits, compared with the previous N1.702tr.
Shareholders’ funds grew to N537.084bn from N515.499bn