United Bank for Africa Plc on Thursday said that its profit after tax rose by 36.37 per cent to N12.59bn in the first quarter of 2014, from N9.23bn as of the fourth quarter of 2013.
It added that in line with its pace of expanding credit support to the emerging sectors in Nigeria and Africa its loans and advances hit a record high of N1.067tn in the first quarter of 2014.
A statement from the bank said the figure rose by 16 per cent from the N937.6bn recorded as of December 31, 3013.
The bank’s unaudited results for the first quarter of 2014 showed that its gross earnings rose by 8.2 per cent to N68bn in the period from N63bn in the same period of 2013, while operating income of N45.5bn in the review period, reflected a two per cent increase on the N44.6bn it posted in the first quarter of 2013.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, was quoted as saying the bank focused on a number of strategic initiatives aimed at increasing its market share in the Nigerian and African markets.
He said, “We are optimistic that the gains of our improved electronic banking channels and financial inclusion initiatives will materialise in successive quarters during the year.
“We remain confident that we have the right tools to achieve our business goals for the year whilst ensuring we continue to improve our customer service delivery and further consolidate our growth momentum.”
The bank also said its net interest margin, which shows the quality of the bank’s earning on its lending activities, remained stable at 5.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
It added that the cost of funds remained stable at 3.6 per cent, quarter-on-quarter, while return on assets remained stable at 1.9 per cent QoQ, just as return on equity improved to 22.1 per cent QoQ from 21.3 per cent.
