Zenith Bank plc has announced its unaudited results for the period ended 30 September, 2019, with numbers that clearly demonstrate its market dominance and leadership.
From the unaudited account which was presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), gross earnings increased by 4 percent from N474.6 billion recorded in Q3 2018 to N491.2 billion in Q3 2019.
Profit before tax (PBT) grew by 5 percent from N167.3 billion in Q3 2018 to N176.1 billion in Q3 2019.
Also, profit after tax rose by 5 percent from N144.1 billion in Q3 2018 to N150.7 billion in Q3 2019.
Despite a challenging macro-economic backdrop, the Group recorded a significant growth in non-interest income, expanding by 22 percent from N128.7 billion in Q3 2018 to N156.8 billion for the current period. Zenith Bank platforms and channels have been the enablers of this growth, with fees from electronic products doubling to N35.3 billion from N17.6 billion in Q3 2018.
The bank’s cost optimisation strategies and aggressive retail banking drive are yielding the desired effects as cost-to-income ratio declined from 51.2 percent in Q3 2018 to 50.1 percent in Q3 2019, with Earnings Per Share (EPS) growing by 5 percent from N4.58 in Q3 2018 to N4.80 in Q3 2019.
The retail and corporate banking franchises continued their momentum with customers’ deposits growing by 7 percent to N3.95 trillion from N3.69 trillion recorded as at December 2018, a reflection of increasing share of the industry’s deposits and customers’ confidence in the Zenith brand. These deposit acquisitions have directly contributed to cost of funds improving from 3.3 percent in Q3 2018 to 2.95 percent as at Q3 2019.
The bank has continued to deploy capital to create viable risk assets with gross loans and advances growing by 9 percent from N2.02 trillion as at December 2018 to N2.2 trillion as at Q3 2019 across both the retail and corporate segments.
“Our focus remains the search for bankable lending opportunities to ensure the attainment of the minimum regulatory loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) of 65 percent by December 31, 2019 without compromising our prudence,” the bank said in a statement.
Zenith Bank’s robust risk management framework has ensured that non-performing loans (NPL) ratio declined from 4.98 percent in December 2018 to 4.95 percent in the current period. Zenith’s commitment to maintaining a shock-proof balance sheet remains with liquidity and capital adequacy ratios at 63.8 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively, both above regulatory thresholds.
“In this final quarter of the year, we will sustain our competitiveness and share of market in the corporate segment and build upon our digital foundations to reinforce our retail banking initiatives,” the bank said.
As a testament to this superlative performance and in recognition of its track record of excellent performance, the bank was recently named as the Bank of the Year and the Best Bank in Retail Banking at the 2019 BusinessDay Banks’ and Other Financial Institutions Awards (BAFI Awards).
BALA AUGIE
