The board of United Bank for Africa Plc, on Thursday released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, showing remarkable growth across all major revenue lines.
The Bank’s result which was released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, April 13, 2023 showed a 47.5% growth in gross earnings from ₦183.9bn to ₦271.2bn; boosted by Interest Income which rose from ₦125.9bn to ₦191.9bn, representing 53.4% growth.
Operating Income for the period rose by 39.6% to ₦175.7bn, as against ₦125.9bn in the corresponding quarter of 2022; just as Profit Before Tax (PBT) leaped by a significant 38.2% to ₦61.4bn in Q1 2023 from ₦44.5bn recorded in the first quarter of 2022. Profit after tax (PAT) jumped from ₦41.5bn to ₦53.6bn, representing an impressive 29.1% increase.
Commenting on the financials, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, said the performance was despite the high inflationary, and challenging global environment, because UBA was able to leverage the uptick in interest rates and improved digital offerings, in growing funded and non-funded income. He particularly expressed excitement at the growth in PBT, which he noted, has helped to drive increased returns to shareholders, with a 22.6% Return on Average Equity (ROAE) compared to 19.7% recorded in December 2022.
“We have continued to record improved gains in our customer acquisition and retention strategies across our countries of presence, evident in the 10.5% growth in customer deposits to ₦8.6tr from ₦7.8tr at the end of 2022FY. This has enabled the Group drive increased loan growth and interest income, with loans to customers at ₦3.6 trillion, representing a year-to-date (YTD) increase of 5%.”
For the 2023 financial year, he said the group remains committed to improving its “performance as we strategically position our entities to take advantage of emerging developments within their jurisdictions and across the globe. We will continue to deliver excellent rewards to our stakeholders.”
Also speaking on the performance, UBA’s Executive Director, Finance and Risk, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said the performance demonstrates the group’s resilience and commitment towards delivering value and enhancing the confidence of its customers, stakeholders and the wider public notwithstanding the competitive landscape and current global trend in the industry.
“The impressive performance of UBA Group in first quarter 2023 is hinged on its continuous improvement and growth in gross earnings and balance sheet size as gross earnings grew by 47.5% year-on-year to ₦271.2billion and total assets up by 4.6% to ₦11.4 trillion from ₦10.9 trillion as at December 2022,” Nwaghodoh stated.
Continuing, he said, “the growth in gross earnings is on the strength of increase in both interest income and non-interest income while growth in total asset is attributable to increased deposits due to aggressive deposit mobilization drive that resulted in a 10.5% growth in customer deposit in the first quarter.”