Union Bank of Nigerian Plc on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, released its unaudited third quarter financial statement for the period ended September 30, 2019, with a profit before tax of N15.6 billion, which is 5 percent above N14.9 billion that was reported same period in 2018. Profit after tax was up by 4 percent from N14.7 billion in 2018 to N15.2 billion in the period under consideration.
While gross earnings slip by 4 percent due to a decrease in average earnings assets. Commenting on the results, the managing director, Emeka Emuwa, said “Our continued focus on consumer centric service and product propositions is yielding solid results, contributing to a 28% growth in our electronic channels fee income which is at N5.6bn for the period. Our debt recovery drive continues to record successes with N8.4bn of recoveries year to date.
Adding that “In line with our stated business objectives, we are continuing to grow our asset book by creating quality risk assets in targeted sectors. This has led to a 9% growth in our loan portfolio to N566.5bn compared to N519.7bn at year-end 2018. Going into the rest of the year, our ambition remains to deliver superior customer experience across all customer touchpoints.”
Other highlights of the result shows that interest income drop by 2 percent to N90.0 billion against N91.5 billion recorded same period in 2018. While net interest income after impairment was up by 6 percent. This was driven by the impact of collections on impaired facilities. Non-interest income was down by 12 percent to N27.1 billion against N30.7 billion in 2018.
According to the financial result, it was driven by reduced market volatility in 2019, which had impact on trading income. Cash recoveries was up 114 percent. Net operating income was down by 2 percent. Also operating expenses was down by 3 percent to N56.2 billion, which is below N58.0 billion in 2018, as a result of our sustained cost optimization programme.
Speaking on the nine months result, the Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu said: “While we had a slight decline in gross earnings for the Group from N122.2bn in 2018 to N117.2bn, our efficiency initiatives including the deployment of Robotics Process Automation as well as our cost optimization programme. We continue to maintain adequate level of capital, with our capital adequacy ratio at 17.8% which is above the regulatory threshold. Non-performing loans declined to 8.0 percent from 8.7% as at year end 2018”.
