H1 2012 Earnings: Ecobank Transnational Reports Revenue of $765 million

Ecobank Transnational Inc., the parent company of the pan-African banking group with a presence in 32 African countries, today announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2012.

Financial highlights:

 

• Revenue of $765 million, up 51% from prior period

 

• Pre-tax profit of $126 million, compared with $134 million in prior period

 

• Basic earnings per share of 0.54 cents (2011: 0.82 cents)

 

• Customer loans of $8.0 billion, up 46% from prior period

 

• Customer deposits of $12.7 billion, compared with $9.0 billion in prior period

 

• NPL ratio reduced to 5.6% (2011: 7.2%)

 

Operational highlights:

 

• Net interest income increased by 65% compared to prior year due to volume growth and a better portfolio mix of earning assets.

 

• The 6% decrease in pre-tax profits was primarily due to post acquisition-related costs.

 

• The integration of Oceanic Bank in Nigeria is ahead of schedule and that of The Trust Bank (TTB) in Ghana is completed. The full impact on our business and earnings is expected in the medium-term.

 

• Ecobank continues to derive significant benefit from our pan-African footprint, which allows us to increase our regional trade business, support customer remittance needs and provide a one-stop solution for customers.

 

Commenting on these results, Arnold Ekpe, Group CEO said: “Ecobank reported strong revenue growth and credit quality improvements in the first six months of 2012. However, earnings were negatively impacted due to the post-acquisition costs of Oceanic Bank. We expect Oceanic Bank to break-even in the second half of the year and this should have a positive impact on earnings going forward.”