FBNH reflates earnings as group completes balance sheet repair program

FBNH reflates earnings as group completes balance sheet repair program

FBN Holdings Plc has declared profit after tax of ₦73.67 billion in its audited result for 2019 as management completes 3-year strategic planning cycle.

The result which was released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), showed that the profit rose by 26.5% when compared with ₦58.23 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2018.

The holdings pretax profit closed at ₦83.59 billion, which represents 30.9% increase when compare with ₦63.85 billion recorded in 2018.

In an effort to raise market share, FBNH gross earnings rose by 6.7 % to ₦627.01 billion from ₦587.41 billion in 2018.

Also, interest yielding assets produced net-interest income of ₦290.2 billion, having increased by 1.7 % from ₦285.3 billion in 2018.

The financial supermarket achieved an uptick performance in deposit mobilisation.

The audited financial statement shows that customer deposits surged 15.3 % to ₦4 trillion as against ₦3.5 trillion in 2018.

In addition to its interest earnings activities, non-interest income jerked up 20.6 % to ₦159.2 billion against ₦132.0 billion in 2018.

Impairment charges was down by 41.5 % to ₦51.1 billion against ₦87.5 billion in the previous period.

This was attributed to successful balance sheet repair program the holdings had embarked in the last few years.

Meanwhile, total assets at the holdings level hit ₦6.2 trillion, which is an increase of 11.4 % when compare with ₦5.6 trillion recorded in 2018.

Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio returned to single digit at 9.9 % against 24.7 % achieved in 2018.

The company, as a result of the impressive records, recommended a dividend of 38k to its shareholders which will be approved at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for April 27.

Commenting on the results, Urum Kalu Eke, the company’s Group Managing Director described 2019 as a positive year.

“We are happy to close the 2019 financial year on positive notes across a number of key metrics, giving the Group a clean-slate to accelerate its growth plan as we conclude the 3-year Strategic Planning Cycle which ran from 2017-2019 and commence a new cycle.

“In line with our promise to the market, FBN Holdings closed the year with a 30.9 % y-o-y increase in profit before tax and delivered its target of a single digit NPL which closed at less than 10 %.

“Similarly, we successfully overhauled our risk management architecture, strengthened our processes by leveraging technology and institutionalising a strong credit culture across the lending entities,” he said.

According to him, these deliberate steps have seen the NPL ratio of the company’s vintage book remain below 1 %.

“In the same vein, we have made significant improvement in our revenue generation capacity with non-interest income benefiting from our market leadership in electronic banking channels.

“It is also noteworthy to highlight that our investments aimed at improving operational efficiencies and enhancing revenue accretion have resulted in higher cost-to-income ratio.

“The benefits of these investments will be realised in subsequent periods.

“The new cycle is focused on strengthening and positioning the various businesses across the Group for sustainable growth over the long-term.

“As a Group, we are committed to transforming our financial performance to tangible results for the benefit of all stakeholders especially our shareholders through enhanced returns and dividend payment.

“As a testament of the resolution of the legacy issues and an indication of the future, FirstBank re-commenced dividend upstream to the holding company,” he stated.

FBNH reflates earnings as group completes balance sheet repair program