UBA’s Q3 Gross Earnings Hit N608bn, Records 12.3% Growth in Profit
Kayode Tokede
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced remarkable performance in its unaudited financial results for the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, 2022, recording impressive growth across all its major indices and replicating the performance it achieved in the first two quarters of the current fiscal year.
Specifically, the bank’s gross earnings rose to N608 billion, up from N493 billion recorded in September 2021, while operating income also grew by 27.3per cent to close at N414.1 billion as at September 2022, up from N334.8 billion achieved a year earlier.
In its financial report filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, UBA reported a 12.3 per cent rise in profit before tax to close at N138.5 billion compared with the N123.4 billion recorded at the end of the Q3 2021, while profit after tax also rose significantly by 10.9 per cent to N116 billion up from N104.6 billion recorded a year earlier, thus sustaining its annualised return on average equity for Q3 2022 at 19.2 per cent.
As always, UBA continued to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with total assets rising to N9.3 trillion, representing a 9.1 per cent increase over the N8.5 trillion recorded at the end of December 2021, just as the bank benefitted largely from its technology-led initiatives targeted at improving customer experience over the past few years, with Customer Deposits rising to N7.03 trillion, representing a 10.4 per cent rise, up from N6.4 trillion at the end of the last financial year.
UBA shareholders’ funds remained very strong at N809 billion up from N805 billion recorded in December 2021, again reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.
Commenting on the result, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba, remarked that the Group continued to show notable operating resilience amid significant headwinds in its presence markets amidst heightened global risk environment, adding that its strong diversification model and unwavering focus on customer satisfaction continues to give the bank an edge over its peers in the industry.
He said, “We continue to reap the benefits of our diversification strategy and Customer -1st philosophy and build resilience in our operations across Africa and the Rest of the World to support the mission of providing superior value to our stakeholders.”
“This has translated into strong financial gains evident in growth in our customer deposits and Net interest margin. In addition, we are strategically positioned to drive our market share in our operating countries, with the strong growth of our payments and transaction banking offerings,” Alawuba stated.
The Executive Director, Finance & Risk Management, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said, “The Group’s profitability increased by 12.3 per cent to N138.5 billion, with underlying growth in our key income lines and moderation in our cost of funds.
“We remain very cautious in risk asset creation as we defensively position our asset portfolios to minimize the impact of the heightened credit risk. Consequently, our NPL ratio remains within acceptable threshold at 3.2 per cent.
