FCMB Group Declares 108% Growth in PBT to N55.1bn

Kayode Tokede

FCMB Group Plc has announced its unaudited results for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, declaring profit before tax growth of N55.1billion, an increase of 108per cent from N26.5 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2022.

The growth in profit before tax was driven by the Group recording robust earnings growth in, Banking Group 130.1 per cent; Consumer Finance, 32.6 per cent; Investment Management, 38.7 per cent, and Investment Banking, 27.6 per cent.

The group declared gross revenue of N351.5 billion for the nine months 2023, 75.7per cent growth from N200.1 billion for the same period prior year.

This was driven by a 55.1per cent growth in interest income and a 144.6 per cent growth in non-interest income.

Net interest income grew by 29.5per cent from N93.1 billion, in the prior year, to N120.5 billion at the end of the period.

The growth in net interest income was driven by a growth in the yield on earning assets for the period ended September 2023.

However, operating expenses grew 29.0per cent to N111.5 billion for the period ended September 2023, due to increased personnel costs, regulatory costs, technology-related costs, and general inflationary pressures.

FCMB Group announced net impairment loss on financial assets increased to N57 billion, for the period ended September 2023, from N18.7 billion in the prior year resulting in a growth in cost of risk to 3.9per cent.

Financial position revealed that the Group’s loans and advances grew by 34.3 per cent from N1.19 trillion to N1.59 trillion at the end of September 2023.

The Group in a statement said, “Our customer base grew by 15.4per cent from 10.4 million to 12 million customers for the period ended September 2023, a current year growth of over 1.1 million customers.

“Similarly, our agency banking business grew its network to over 120,000 agents, acquiring over 130,000 customers during the period.

“Investment Banking (advisory and primary debt and equity capital markets) transaction value consummated by the Group rose to N690.9 billion in the period under review, a 15.2per cent growth.

“The Group successfully completed the issuance of a Series 2 Additional Tier 1 Capital Bond under its N300 billion Debt Issuance Programme for its Banking Subsidiary, bringing the total Additional Tier I Capital raised during the year to N46.7 billion.

“Our Consumer Finance business, Credit Direct Limited, also successfully completed its maiden Commercial Paper Issuance to further diversify the Company’s funding base.

“We continue to leverage our unique Group structure to build a technology-driven ecosystem that is fostering inclusive and sustainable growth in the communities we serve. This strategy is enabling us to deliver robust performance in spite of the challenging domestic and global environment.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we believe this trend will be sustained and accompanied with improving efficiencies arising from greater scale and ongoing digitization.”