Ecobank Grows Profit by 37% Amid 0.59% Drop in H1 2018 Earnings

By Dipo Olowookere

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc on Thursday released its financial results for the first six months of this year.

The bank released the financial details shortly after it announced yesterday that Mr Patrick Akinwuntan will now be the new chief executive of Ecobank Nigeria after the resignation of Mr Charles Kie.

In the results, the lender posted a slight drop in its gross earnings for the period, 0.59 percent, to close at N384.6 billion in contrast to N386.9 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

However, the profit before tax appreciated by 40.8 percent to N65.1 billion from N46.2 billion achieved in H1 2017, while the profit after tax went up by 36.6 percent to N51.6 billion from N37.7 billion.

In the period under review, the financial institution raked N242.2 billion from interest income against N241.9 billion in the first half of 2017, while interest expense stood at N95.7 billion against N99.2 billion 12 months ago.

Furthermore, the net interest income in this period was N146.6 billion compared with N142.7 billion in H1 2018, while the net trading income closed at N58.9 billion as at June 30, 2018 in contrast to N71.1 billion as at June 30, 2017.

Business Post observed in the financial statements that the operating income generated by the bank in the period under review slightly declined by 0.04 percent, closing at N278.6 billion against N278.7 billion recorded exactly a year ago.

For the operating expenses, Ecobank said it spent N172.4 billion in first half of this year compared with the N169 billion it used in the first half of last year.

A look at its balance sheet showed that the total assets value was N6.6 trillion in the period under review against N6.5 trillion in the corresponding period of last year, while the value of total liabilities closed at N6 trillion in H1 2018 in contrast to N5.9 trillion in H1 2017.

For the shareholders’ fund, it closed at N587.8 billion as at June 30, 2018 compared with N602.6 billion as at June 30, 2017.

However, the bank recorded as earnings per share (EPS) of N1.67k against N1.31k 12 months ago, while the return on assets (ROA) stood at 0.78 percent against 0.58 percent the last time, and the return on equity (ROE) was 8.77 percent as at June 30, 2018 versus 6.26 percent as at June 30, 2017.