Union Bank records N12.1b profit before tax for 2019 half year

Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), one of Nigeria’s longest standing and most respected financial institutions, has declared profit before tax of N12.1 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2019, despite the realities of a challenging economic environment.

The profit after tax, compared to the N11.7 billion recorded in the same period of 2018, represented a growth of four percent.

According to the result published by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday July 29, 2019, gross earnings dipped by nine percent to N76 billion, while it was ₦83.3 billion in half year 2018.

Also, interest income went down by eight percent to ₦57.3 billion against ₦62.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2018. Net interest income after impairment grew by three percent to ₦30.5 billion against ₦29.7 billion in H1 2018, supported by an aggressive drive in collections.

Net operating income was slightly down by two percent to ₦49.6 billion compared with ₦50.9 billion in the previous period of 2018. Also, operating expenses was down by four percent to ₦37.5 billion against ₦39.2 billion in H1 2018; reflecting the gains of the bank’s cost optimization programme.

Reviewing the performance, Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Emuwa, said the bank was able to deliver growth in profit before tax in spite of the realities of a challenging economic environment.

“Notwithstanding the realities of operating in a challenging economic environment, the Group delivered a per cent growth in profit before tax to ₦12.1 billion from ₦11.7 billion in H1 2018.

“To sustain growth in earnings, we remained steadfast in our commitment to delivering value and first-class customer experience to all our customers.

“We have developed a concerted and clear plan to increase our risk assets with our loan book growing by eight per cent to ₦563.0 billion compared to year-end 2018.

“The ability to take on more risk is hinged on our robust risk management and debt recovery processes working in sync which led to recoveries of over N5 billion in the period.

“We successfully closed our Series 3, 10-year ₦30 billion bond in June, as part of our ₦100 billion debt capital programme. This series, which was once again fully subscribed, is the largest 10-year bond issued by a Nigerian corporate to date. This further reinforces the confidence of the investor community in Union Bank. With this new injection of tier 2 capital, we are well positioned to deliver on our growth strategy and priorities.”