Zenith Bank Plc presented its unaudited financials for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, indicating that net profit grew at a slightly slower pace than gross earnings, which rose by N48.301bn or 48.57% from N99.435bn in 2016 to N147.092bn; helped by interest and similar income of N118.092bn, up by N33.915bn or 40.29% from N84.177bn in the first quarter of this year. Income from customer loans and advances for the period amounted to N78.809bn from N59.71bn; and Treasury bills, N26.927bn from N11.643bn.
Interest and similar expenses grew to N57.488bn from N26.02bn, the bulk of which came from the Time deposits of N32.848bn, up from the previous N16.505bn, leaving net interest income at N70.604bn, from the previous first quarter’s N58.157bn.
Impairment charge for credit loss however increased by N5.309bn or 206.01% to N7.886bn, from N2.577bn in the preceding first quarter, mainly from N7.61bn paid on other financial assets; following which net interest income after impairment charge for credit losses stood at N62.718bn from N55.58bn.
Fees and commission income rose from N15.668bn to N21.128bn, principally from the N9.16bn earned in the current account maintenance from N5.406bn, followed by credit related fees of N3.218bn as against N2.93bn; just as it recorded trading income of N7.064bn from a loss of the preceding quarter’s N1.893bn; other income was flat at N1.452bn from N1.483bn, this was lifted by foreign currency revaluation gain of N1.324bn, as against N1.34bn in the 2016 Q1.
The bank earned N6.792bn trading in Treasury bills, almost as much as it recorded for the 12 months of 2016, as against N612m in the corresponding period of last year; as well as N238m from foreign exchange trading income, as against the loss of N2.299bn; just as bond trading income stood at N34m, from the previous loss of N206m.
Depreciation of property and equipment rose from N2.252bn from N2.723bn; personnel expenses fell slightly during the period to N18.166bn, from N16.885bn; operating expenses rose from N19.287bn to N26.991bn. The major expense heads included the N2.7bn premium paid to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), N5.355bn fees paid to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), as against N4.688bn in the previous first quarter; while fuel and maintenance expenses jumped from N2.574bn to N5.561bn; while ‘other expenses’ soared to N1.227bn, as against the previous N265m.
Profit before tax therefore rose to N44.2bn, compared with N32.121bn in the corresponding Q1 of last year; income tax expense grew to N6.701bn from N5.548bn; while profit after tax rose by N10.926bn or 41.11% from N26.573bn to N37.499bn. The net profit represented earnings per share of 119 kobo from 84 kobo in the corresponding period of 2016.