Wema Bank declares third quarter profit of N479million

Wema Bank Plc on Wednesday announced a profit after tax of N479 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2013.

This was contained in a statement issued by the bank in Lagos.

The profit after tax represented an impressive growth when compared with a loss of N4.9 billion declared in Dec. 2012.

The report showed that profit before tax increased to N563.8 million, against a loss of N4.99 million the bank suffered in 2012 financial year.

Similarly, the bank’s total assets grew by 22.93 per cent to N302.05 billion, in contrast with the N245.70 billion it posted in the 2012 fiscal year.

Similarly, the bank’s deposit liabilities grew by 5.90 per cent to N184.60 billion, against the N174.30 billion achieved in 2012.

Its Shareholders’ Funds stood at N40.57 billion from N1.28 billion. This is the result of the bank’s successful completion of raising N40 billion capital by way of special placing.

The statement quoted Mr Segun Oloketuyi, the bank’s Managing Director, as having expressed optimism that it would sustain the growth trend.

Oloketuyi said that the bank had utilised available resources to give the best value for stakeholders’ investment, despite the capital constraints experienced in the first three quarters of 2013.

“We are particularly pleased with our Q3 performance of recording profits for the second consecutive period in 2013, in line with our initial projections,” he said.

Oloketuyi said the bank would continue to leverage on the efficiency of its treasury, retail and corporate business segments, within a sound risk management framework, to sustain growth.

He said the bank would obtain a “national banking authorisation” to explore business opportunities in locations outside Lagos, Abuja, the South-South and the South-West regions.

According to him, the bank will launch a new short-term growth initiative, in the next couple of weeks.

“This initiative is expected to propel the bank into a leadership position within the Tier-2 segment in the next three years,” Oloketuyi added. (NAN)