The United Bank for Africa Plc, has announced its audited financial results for the half-year ended June 30, 2020, showing a growth across key performance indices as well as increased contribution from its African subsidiaries.
The bank said in a statement that notwithstanding the challenging business and economic environment occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was able to deliver growth in its gross earnings, which rose to N300.6bn from N294bn in the same period of 2019.
According to its results filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, it recorded N2.2tn in net loans to customers, representing a 6.1 per cent growth even as deposits from customers increased by 25.2 per cent to N4.8tn.
Net interest income grew by 8.4 per cent to N119.3bn, while net fee and commission income stood at N38.6bn, representing a 7.0 per cent increase compared to the similar period in 2019.
As at June 30, 2020, the bank’s total assets surpassed the N6tn mark as it leaped to N6.8tn.
Operating income also grew by 7.7 per cent to N197.1bn from N182.9bn, while profit before tax fell to N57.1bn from N70.3bn in 2019, yielding a 14.4 per cent annualised return on average equity.
The bank’s shareholders’ funds remained strong at N634.7bn, up from N597.9bn in December 2019, driven by growth in retained earnings.
The Board of Directors of UBA declared an interim dividend of N0.17 per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders.
Commenting on the results, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, said “Our 2020H1 results is yet another demonstration of the resilience of our business model in an extremely uncertain and tough operating environment.
“We recorded commendable growth in our underlying business in terms of customer acquisition, transaction volumes and balance sheet whilst inflation, depressed yield environment and exchange rate volatilities impacted our net earnings as anticipated.”
