• Offers N0.20 Dividend

The board of the United Bank for Africa Plc, on Thursday submitted its audited financials for the half-year ended June 30, 2022, a day of the September 9 projected date communicated to the Nigerian Exchange Limited in its regulatory filing for extension of the submission date to enable the review of the numbers by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), its primary regulator.

A summary of the result showed that while gross earnings rose by 16% to N372.36bn, compared to the previous half-year’s N316.04bn, just as profit after tax was up 16% from N60.58bn in 2021 to N70.33bn, translating to an Earnings Per Share of N1.98, as against N1.69 in 2021.

A major highlight of the result worth noting is that Profit Before Tax from the group’s African business at N48.225bn outpaced the N39.309bn from Nigeria, even as that from the rest of the world grew by more than double that of prior half-year. The board has offered an interim dividend of 20 kobo per share, payable electronically on September 29, to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as of September 22, 2022.

A breakdown showed that Nigeria remains the group’s operational base, contributing N218.891bn of total revenue, up from N171.226bn; followed by N150.666bn, as against N141.87bn from the rest of Africa; and N17.093bn from the rest of the world, which rose from the previous N9.616bn.

Details of the result showed that interest income rose to N257.361bn from N222.631bn, while interest expenses rose from N74.563bn to N79.899bn; leaving a net interest income of N177.462bn, up from N148.068bn.

Impairment charge for credit losses on loans jumped by N8.485bn or 258.68% to N11.765bn, from the previous half-year’s N3.28bn; while there was a net impairment write back on other financial assets of N3.435bn, as against the impairment charge of N857m in the prior half-year; resulting in a net interest income after impairment on financial and non-financial instrument of N169.132bn, compared to the previous N143.931bn.

Fees and commission income soared from N74.085bn to N96.396bn; while expense rose to N36.479bn from N28.317bn; following which net fee and commission income amounted to N59.916bn from N59.768bn.

Net trading and foreign exchange income rose marginally from N9.102bn to N9.145bn; other operating income also witnessed a drop to N9.146bn, from N9.508bn; employee benefit expense jumped to N52.297bn from N42.623bn; depreciation and amortization from N11.457bn to N13.035bn; other operating expenses stood at N96.569bn from N78.753bn.

Profit for the year, therefore, stood at N70.334bn from N60.581bn. Profit before tax rose to N85.749bn from N76.186bn; while income tax expense was flat at N15.415bn from N15.605bn.

The bulk of the group’s PBT came from the rest of Africa, which accounted for N48.225bn, a drop from the previous N56.098bn; compared to the N39.309bn from Nigeria, which rose from N22.664bn; with the rest of the world producing N8.434bn, a significant growth from N3.751bn. The income tax expense of N2.55bn, up from N1.527bn brought PAT from Nigeria to N36.759bn; while the N12.865bn, which dropped from N14.078bn, from the rest of Africa left gross profit therefrom at N35.36bn; while tax expense from the rest of the world was nil.

On the balance sheet, total assets rose marginally from N8.541tr at the end of last financial year on December 31, 2022, to N8.998tr in the first half of this year; of which loans and advances to customers increased to N2.752tr from N2.68tr.

Total liabilities rose to N8.21tr from N7.736tr, boosted by the N6.729tr in customer deposits, up from N6.369tr.