Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) is targeting to increase its loan book between 15 and 20 per cent this year after growth of 29 per cent last year as it seeks opportunities in telecom, oil and gas and manufacturing.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje stated this during an analysts’ conference call.
He explained that foreign currency lending to the power, oil and gas sectors drove loan growth last year, though low yields on dollar-based loans cut margins.
GTBank share price climbed by 8.23 per cent to N25 Thursday.
Agbaje said he expects Return on Equity (RoE) to grow in excess of 25 per cent this year, compared with 29.3 per cent in 2013.
GTBank had last Friday announced gross earnings of N243 billion for the year endedDecember 31, 2013, showing an increase of nine per cent compared to N232 billion posted in 2012.
The financial results also showed that the bank’s profit before tax and after tax rose from N103 billion at the end of 2012, to N107 billion last year, and from N87 billion to N90 billion respectively.
Based on the results, the directors recommended a final dividend of N1.45 to bring the total dividend for the year to N1.70 (about N50 billion) having paid an interim dividend of 25 kobo before.
GTBank recorded pre-tax Return of Equity (ROE) of 34.9 per cent and pre-tax Return on Asset (ROA) of 5.6 per cent.
The bank also increased its loan book by 28.6 per cent from N783.91 billion in 2012 to N1.01 trillion in 2013.
