Skye Bank Plc has announced an increase in its profit before tax for the financial year ended December 31, 2013.
Its results released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday showed that its profit, which stood at N16.5bn at the end of the 2012 financial year, rose to N17.13bn in the year under consideration.
Also, its profit after tax rose significantly to N16.02bn compared with N12.64bn posted in the previous year, showing an improvement of 26.7 per cent.
Other highlights of the result included a growth in total assets from N1.07tn to N1.11tn, and its deposit liabilities increased from N966bn to N996bn during the period under review, reflecting a growth of three per cent. Gross earnings stood at N127.3bn in 2012.
According to the result, the bank’s total equity grew during the review period from 106.8bn in 2012 to N120bn. This indicates the bank’s financial stability and solidity.
Its loans and receivables also rose to N549.8bn from N540.3bn recorded at the end of the previous year.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, while commenting on the bank’s performance, said, “In a year beset with various regulatory headwinds on the backdrop of monetary policy tightening with attendant impact on liquidity, cost, fees and overall earnings, our results showed positive growth on all performance indices.
“Having recorded gross earnings of N127.3bn, we grew our interest income by four per cent year-on-year, from N101bn to N105.3bn, while our interest expense reduced by 23 per cent to close at N43.6bn from N56.5bn. This reflected our focus at replacing relatively expensive term deposits with low-cost funding and the continuous use of our branch network to mobilise less costly deposits.
“With this, we increased our net operating income year-on-year from N56.7bn to N68.5bn, representing a 21 per cent growth. Our operating expense increased by 28 per cent, from N40.2bn to N51.4bn as a result of increased statutory payments and other operating costs.”
Durosinmi-Etti expressed confidence in the successful implementation of the bank’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital
raising project within the year, adding that this would enable it to deepen its penetration in existing markets, while also providing the avenue for exploring uncharted segments and other opportunities.
