Toyin Sanni, GMD, United Capital

The board of United Capital Plc set Nigeria’s investment community abuzz Friday morning when it released its audited result for the year ended December 31, 2016, showing double and three digit growth in earnings and profit respectively, following which there was a recommendation of 50 kobo dividend from the Earnings Per Share of 115 kobo, significantly juicier than the 35 kobo dividend paid from 43 kobo EPS in 2015 subject to approval of shareholders at its next annual general meeting.
According to the result, gross earnings for the period jumped to N9 billion, from N6.153 billion in the corresponding period of 2015, helped by an investment income of N4.039 billion from N3.072 billion, among others, following which net operating income stood at N6.674 billion, up from the previous N5.496 billion; while other income got a boost to N2.325 billion from just N657.47 million.
Total expenses of the group engaged in investment banking involving issuing house, corporate investment advisory services, project finance, debt restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and debt capital markets services for the period fell by N603.795 million or 18.64% from N3.238 billion to N2.364 billion.
Profit before tax therefore stood at N6.366 billion, 95.07% better than the N3.263 billion recorded in the preceding year; helped further by the significant drop in income tax expense from N693.19 million to N363.2 million.
After tax profit from continuing operations stood at N6.003 billion, better by N3.433 billion or 133.55% than the previous year’s N2.57 billion, made better by the N909.695 million gain from the sale of investment in Metropolitan Life Assurance. This brought profit for the period to N6.913 billion from N2.507 billion, representing growth of about N4.342 billion or 168.94%. The directors have recommended payment of 50 kobo dividend or N3 billion as total dividend payout subject to approval at the AGM payable to shareholders on the registers of members at the close of business on March 2, 2017.