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Business News of Friday, 20 November 2020

Source: pmnewsnigeria.com

UBA Plc grows earnings, but profit shrinks a little

UBA Plc has announced its unaudited 2020 third-quarter financial results, with gross earnings increasing, but profits falling slightly.

The market noticed the report and reacted by valuing UBA stock 25k less from N8.45 to N8.20 by midday trading.

In the report filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, same day with Zenith Bank, gross earnings increased from N454.4 billion from N428.7billion last year.

UBA however reported a reduced profit before tax (PBT) of N90.4 billion.

The Pan-African bank made a gross profit of N98.2 billion at the corresponding period last year.

After-tax profit also fell to N77.1 billion, lower than the N81 billion logged last year.

UBA Plc appoints Aregbesola, Obeta, Hacko, 3 others as country headsBut the profit is good for investor, as it gives an annualised return on average equity at 16.4%.

There are other cheering indicators in the report.

Operating income improved by 10.4% year-on-year to close at N293.7 billion.

It was N265.9 billion last year.

The bank’s assets also grew.

It is now N7.1 trillion, a 26% increase over the N5.6 trillion recorded at the end of December 2019.

According to the report, UBA benefitted largely from its technology-led initiatives, which have improved customer experience over the past few years.

Customer deposits leaped to N5.2trillion from N3.8 trillion at the end of the last financial year.

Shareholders’ funds remained very strong at N655.3 billion rising by 9.6% from N598.0 billion recorded in December 2019, thus reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.

UBA group managing director/CEO Kennedy Uzoka said about the report: “In spite of the current turbulence in the operating environment, occasioned by the global pandemic, we have continued to record significant progress in our business segments.”

On the expectations for the rest of the year, Mr Uzoka said, “Whilst the outlook for the rest of 2020 is expected to remain challenging, our diversified model provides sufficient resilience, enabling us to continue to delight our customers with innovative banking products within our robust risk management framework.”