Zenith Bank’s FYE 2011 Net Income up 18% to N 44.2 Billion

Zenith Bank released its 2011 financial results last Friday to the toast of investors. Gross earnings were up 27% to N 244 billion from N 192 billion in the previous year.

Profit before tax was up 21.4% to N 60.7 billion from N 50 billion the year before and PAT was up 18% to N 44 billion from N 37 billion the year before.

The bank grew its total assets to N 2.3 trillion from N 1.9 trillion, representing a growth of about 25%.

Also the bank increased lending by 16% to N 870 billion from N 746 billion the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Godwin Emefiele, GMD/CEO said: “Our 2011 financial results are a testament to the commitment and dedication of our workforce, improved patronage driven by our excellent customer service and better business processes. With outstanding top line earnings of over N244bn, profit before tax (PBT) of over N60bn and an asset base of over N2.3tn, we have surpassed our commitments to our stakeholders.

Our drive for a low cost and appropriately mixed deposit base to fund our credit and money market  transactions continued to yield the desired improvement in the Group’s Net Interest Margin (NIM) which increased from 7.84% in 2010 to 8.52% in 2011. Notwithstanding the 25.5% growth in customer deposits (YoY), our interest expense declined by about 3% (YoY). The Group effectively leveraged on its strong deposit base to continue its dominance of the money market space to drive up income and profitability.

The Group continued its practice of maintaining strong liquidity and capital adequacy ratios, well in excess of regulatory requirements at 61% and 27% respectively in 2011. The Group’s large capital and liquidity base ensures that it remains well protected against any volatility and adverse circumstances.

We are encouraged by the business outlook and prospects for 2012. We remain increasingly confident that the Group will continue to record impressive and superior performance even as the planned spin-off of our non-bank subsidiaries comes into effect.”