United Capital Grows Profit by 61% to N1.4bn in Q1

United Capital Plc has announced a profit before tax of N1.422 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, showing an increase of 61 per cent above the N707 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.

According to the unaudited results made available by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, United Capital, which surprised investors with a 39 per cent growth in PAT for 2015 financial year, recorded gross earnings of N1.857 billion in Q1 of 2016, compared with N1.307 billion in 2015.

Net operating income stood at N1.761 billion, up by 49 per cent from N1.182 billion in 2015. Total expenses was reduced by 11 per cent from N512 million to N453 million. As a result profit before tax improved by 59 per cent from N892 million to N1.422 billion, while PAT witnessed a fast growth of 61 per cent to be at N1.137 billion as against N707 million in 2015.

Market analysts commended the results, saying is a consolidation on the company’s 2015 full year performance. The shares of the company rose 4.3 per cent or 4.3 per cent to close higher at N1.48.

United Capital had recorded earnings of N6.15 billion in 2015, up from N4.68 billion in 2014, representing a 32 per cent over 2014 performance. PBT grew to N3.26 billion from N2.31 billion, which is an increase of 41 per cent. PAT also grew by 39 per cent in 2015, closing at N2.57 billion, up from N1.85 billion in 2014.

Commenting on the full year results, Group Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni had said the performance in a year characterised by adverse macro-economic factors, was driven by the group’s growing market share, efficient execution of key mandates and effective cost management driven by improvements in operations and IT capabilities, thereby ensuring that we optimised value and retained a significant proportion of earnings.

“We continue to pursue our clear and consistent strategy, which has delivered a strong performance for shareholders, and we remain positive about our future opportunities within the Nigerian and African market, not-withstanding the challenging macro-economic environment,” Sanni said.

According to her, the company recorded some successes in key business areas in 2015.

“United Capital acted as Structuring Bank/Facility Agent on $250 million Pre-Export Finance for Orion Oil – one of the largest debt deals by a Pan-African investment bank in 2015. Issuing House and Trustee Services to key debt capital issues for Sub-nationals and leading corporate issuers,” she added.