Segun Agbaje, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, says the 2023 financial year is poised to be yet another interesting year for shareholders and other stakeholders of the company, based on the performance of the brand in the first three months as shown in the scorecard presented to the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
According to him, the “2023 is shaping up to be another interesting year. Some of the challenges from the past few years are still lingering, and uncertainties ahead would test the resilience of most economies and businesses. We are confident in our positioning as a thriving financial services company underpinned by strong business fundamentals and will continue to benefit from a well-diversified earnings base.”
Specifically, a statement by the group quoted Agbaje as saying the first quarter performance reflects the strength of the franchise, as well as “the quality of our decision making, and the unfolding success of our efforts towards becoming a leading financial services company in Africa.”
Despite the severe headwinds, he continued, the group “delivered a decent performance, recording growth across key revenue lines. We are also not relenting in our resolve to better outcomes for people and businesses within our financial ecosystem.”
According to the unaudited scorecard for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, presented to the NGX showed a profit before tax of ₦74.1bn, representing a 36.5% growth over the ₦54.3bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
Also, the group’s loan book (net) dipped by 1.5% from ₦1.88tr recorded as at December 2022 to ₦1.86tr in March 2023, while customer deposit increased by 9.9% from ₦4.61tr in December 2022 to ₦5.07tr in March 2023.
The balance sheet remained well structured and resilient with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at ₦6.7trillion and ₦975.6bn, respectively, just as the full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) remained very strong, closing at 23.2%, while asset quality was sustained as IFRS 9 Stage 3 Loans ratio and Cost of Risk (COR) closed at 5.4% and 0.2% in March 2023 from 5.2% and 0.6% in December 2022, respectively.
Overall, the statement added, GTCO continues to post one of the best metrics in the Nigerian Financial Services industry in terms of key financial ratios i.e., Pre-Tax Return on Equity (ROAE) of 31.1%, Pre-Tax Return on Assets (ROAA) of 4.5%, Full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 23.2% and Cost to Income ratio of 43.1%.