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H1, 2012 Earnings: First Bank Reports 125% Growth in PBT at N 54 billion

By on July 24, 2012

First Bank transmitted its first half, 2012 results to the Nigerian Stock Exchange today.

The company announced a profit before tax of N 54.1 billion, representing the profit made in the first six months of the year prior to the tax man taking his portion.

According to a statement released by the bank, the keyhighlights for the period ended 30 June 2012 are as follows:

 

  • 26% growth in gross earnings to N182.3 billion (H1 2011: N145.1 billion)

 

  • Net interest margin of 8.3% (H1 2011: 8.4%)

 

  • 48% growth in non-interest income to N44.5 billion (H1 2011: N30.1 billion)

 

  • 21% growth in operating income to N153.3 billion (H1 2011: N126.3 billion)

 

  • 125% rise in profit before tax to N54.1 billion (H1 2011: N24.1 billion)

 

  • Cost to income ratio of 58.3% (H1 2011: 69.3%)

 

  • Impairment charge for credit losses of N9.1 billion (H1 2011: N14.4 billion)

 

  • Year-on-year increase of 17% in net loans and advances to customers to N1.5 trillion, (H1 2011: N1.2 trillion) and year to date growth of 17% (Dec 2011: N1.3 trillion)

 

  • Year-on-year deposit growth of 15% to N2.2 trillion (H1 2011: N1.9 trillion) and year-to-date growth of 13% (Dec 2011: N2 trillion)

 

  • NPL ratio of 3.3% (H1 2011: 4.0%)

 

  • 56.3% liquidity ratio (H1 2011: 71.2%)

Commenting on the results, Bisi Onasanya, Group Managing Director of FirstBank said:
“The Group recorded profit before tax of N54.1 billion (H1 2011: N24.1 billion), up 125% year-on-year, driven by strong revenue growth, lower impairment charges and modest growth in operating expenses. This translated into annualised after tax return on equity of 25%.

“FirstBank’s results continue to demonstrate the resilience of our business. Given the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, declining oil prices and its resulting impact on the domestic economy, FirstBank recorded 125% growth in the Group’s profit before tax. It was particularly pleasing to see the strength of the Group’s retail franchise, as we were able to grow deposits over the half year period by 13%, in an environment of tight liquidity management, high interest rates and higher velocity of money as a result of the increasing deployment of electronic channels across various segments of the economy. Notwithstanding these headwinds, we were able to moderate the impact on our cost of funds.

“We are pleased with the continuing progress in our transformation agenda, which is focused on driving efficiencies in our business. The focus over coming periods will be to consolidate and build on those gains as we refine our business and operational platform to ensure we achieve our set objective of excellent service delivery as a basis to expand business volumes. We will continue to stratify our customer base, provide bespoke products across our various customer segments and with the needs of our customers being of primary concern. We strongly believe that this customer centric focus will increase the productivity of our staff as well as optimise our asset base as we focus on performance and results”.