In spite of the challenges and uncertainties that characterised last year’s business activities, Infinity Microfinance Bank Limited, Lagos, recorded significant performance in the financial year ended December 31, 2012, posting N75.3 million profit after tax (PAT) compared with N44.6 million the previous year. This represents 69 percent increase.
The bank’s profit before tax (PBT) increased by 68 percent to N79.5 million in 2012, from N47.4 million in 2011.
The total assets of the bank grew from N303.7 million in 2011 to N483.2 million during the year under review, representing an increase of 59 percent.
Similarly, the bank’s loan portfolio grew from a total of N189.3 million in 2011 to N303.2 million in 2012, showing an increase of 60 percent.
The operating results of the bank show that shareholders fund increased by 80 percent to N165.2 million during the year under review, from N91.5 million recorded the previous year.
Following the growth performance of the bank, the board of directors declared a dividend of 5 kobo per share for every 50 kobo share in the bank as of December 31, 2012, amounting to N4.2 million to all shareholders after deducting withholding tax.
Speaking at the eighth annual general meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, Peter Asu, chairman of the bank, said the bank invested significant time and resources into researching and training geared toward instituting best practices in key aspects of its business with emphasis on instituting a bank-wide enterprise risk management system that can sustain its future growth objective.
“We deepened our reach in all our 10 different locations in the Lagos area and increased our product offerings, thereby creating more value to our teaming customers in other areas of needs, especially micro-leasing, micro-housing, micro-health, and mobile money in addition to micro-saving and micro-lending which have been our traditional turf,” he said.
Clara Oloniniyi, managing director of the bank, attributed the performance to commitment and dedication of staff, customers patronage and the bank’s focus on meeting the demand of customers.
“We are very focused. We target the micro entrepreneurs because they constitute the larger number of our customers. We render good and excellent services, given them good products that meet their demand. Above all, we monitor our loan efficiently, given out and recovering our loans at the appropriate time. More importantly, God is on our side,” she said. The chairman noted that the bank witnessed significant improvement in key business activities in 2012 by focusing on meeting the increasing demands in the micro- and small-business sector, where it has built its brand value over the years.
With shareholders fund of N165.2 million as of December 31, 2012, the bank is planning to transform to state micro-finance bank licence from its existing unit micro-finance bank licence. “As a state micro-finance bank, we shall be able to deepen our reach in the existing locations and open new ones so that we can continue to reach out to more Lagosians with the Infinity Microfinance Banking brand. In doing this, we shall continually seek to protect our brand value through excellent customer service, professionalism and integrity,” Asu said.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp