…. Declares N2 Per Share Interim Dividend
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has released its audited financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2024.
In a press statement of its audited financials released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Monday, the bank said it recorded double-digit growth in its gross earnings and operating incomes.
Despite the tough global macroeconomic climate in Nigeria as well as the geopolitical environment challenges across major countries in Africa where the bank has subsidiaries, UBA, at the end of the first two quarters of the year, recorded a 39.6 per cent increase in its gross earnings, which rose from N981.77bn in 2023 to N1.371trn in June 2024.
Interest income also increased by 134.3 per cent to N1.003tn up from N428.2bn recorded in June 2023, while total assets went up by 37.2 per cent from N20.6trn in December 2023 to close at N28.3trn. Customer deposits also rose by 33.7 per cent in the same period to close at N23.2trn up from N17.3trn recorded at the end of 2023.
The results showed that profit before tax, which stood at N403b in June 2023, closed the half year at N402bn, while profit after tax dropped slightly from N378bn to N316bn in the year under consideration. However, the bank’s shareholders funds increased by 47 per cent from N2.03trn in December 2023, to N2.99trn.
The Board of Directors of UBA Plc declared an interim dividend of N2.00 per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders, representing a 300 per cent increase compared to the N0.50 declared in the similar period of 2023.
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba, while commenting on the results, underscored the bank’s commitment to consistently deliver value to its shareholders.
He said, “UBA Group has continued to deliver strong double-digit growth in high quality and sustainable banking revenue streams, driven by a focused growth in balance sheet, transaction and digital banking businesses across geographies in line with our strategic goals.
“The Group’s performance has been buoyed by consistent strong growth in all core and sustainable banking income lines. Our intermediation business showed strong growth with net interest income expanding by 143 per cent YoY to N675bn.”
On the plans for the rest of the year, Alawuba said, “As the Group intensifies its customer acquisition drive, we are making significant investments in technology, data analytics, product research and innovation to enhance our value proposition and customer experience.”
The Executive Director, Finance & Risk, Ugo Nwaghodoh, expressed delight at the milestone achieved by the bank in driving operational efficiency, as reflected in the cost-to-income ratio normalising around the 50 per cent range.
“Our cost optimisation provides scope for further moderation, as we explore options towards a drastic reduction of our foreign currency denominated cost components, robotising and automation of processes and application of artificial intelligence to our operations,” he stated.
Nwaghodoh disclosed that the Group will focus on effectively managing the heightened credit, operational, cyber and information security risks, as it continues to conduct its business within the tenets of its moderate risk appetite in alignment with its sustainability goals.
“The Group has made significant progress and is on course to shore up its share capital to support its medium to long-term aspirations, whilst aligning with the recent regulatory requirement in Nigeria and other jurisdictions that we operate in,” he added.