FBN Holdings plc Wednesday announced its unaudited results for the six months ended June 30, 2020, showing a 56-percent increase in after tax profits to N49.5 billion.
Gross earnings of N296.4 billion were up 5.8 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) for the period, while non-interest income grew by 46.8 percent to N80.1 billion.
Total assets increased by 14.9 percent to N7.1 trillion, year-to-date (y-t-d), customer deposits of N4.4 trillion were up 8.8 percent y-t-d, while loans and advances rose by 7.7 percent from December 2019 to N2.0 trillion.
The Group had a post-tax return on average equity of 14.5 percent and cost to income ratio fell to 65.8 percent from 70.3 percent in June 2019. Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) ratio declined to 8.8 percent in June 2020, from 9.9 percent in December 2019.
Commenting on the results, UK Eke, the group managing director, FBNHoldings, said: “The H1 2020 financial results are impressive and reconfirm our consistent focus on enhanced shareholder value. Despite the difficult operating environment, the H1 results demonstrate our resilience and capacity to deliver on long-term ambitions.
“The 56.3% y-o-y growth in profit after tax for the period is a testament to the strength of our organisation to continually deliver exceptional services to our customers in these unprecedented times. We have been able to achieve this feat by leveraging our agent banking network, innovative e-banking capabilities, and operational efficiency utilising technology.”
During the quarter, we successfully divested from the underwriting (insurance) businesses to focus on our banking operations. We are confident this will enhance greater value to our stakeholders and strengthen the Group’s resolve to consolidate its leadership of the banking sector. Following the divestment,
FBNHoldings injected Tier 1 capital into FirstBank, effectively increasing its CAR to 16.5%. This provides a comfortable buffer against regulatory requirements with the potential to support any emerging business opportunities.
Looking ahead, we remain cautious, but we are confident that our business is fundamentally strong to withstand any future challenge towards enhanced performance”.
During the quarter, FBNH completed the sale of 65 percent FBN Holdings Plc ownership in FBN Insurance Limited to Sanlam Emerging Markets Limited; effective June 1, 2020.
FBNHoldings also injected additional Tier 1 capital into FirstBank boosting Capital Adequacy Ratio to 16.5 percent (excluding profit for the year), while its Firstmonie Agent banking network grew to over 59,000, further reaffirming FirstBank’s undisputed agent banking leadership, strong retail franchise and wide coverage.
Commenting on the results, Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank and its subsidiaries, said: “Over the period, the commercial banking group increased its y-o-y growth in gross earnings and profit before tax by 6.1% and 9.2% respectively, despite the economic shutdown during the quarter and varying degrees of challenges in the operating environment. Notwithstanding, we have continued to provide services to our customers with minimal disruption in a safe environment, supported by seamless transactions through our increasing agent banking network and digital platforms (FirstMobile and USSD). Furthermore, continuous focus on operational efficiency remains a priority, as improvement in non-performing loan ratio has further been sustained.
As the economy reopens gradually, in Nigeria and other key markets as in the rest of the world, we are adopting a pragmatic approach with optimism on propelling our performance for enhanced profitability through customer led innovation and disciplined execution.”
