By Dipo Olowookere
The board of Zenith Bank Plc has announced the third quarter financial results of the company, posting a 10.7 percent drop in its gross earnings for the period ended September 30, 2018.
According to the results released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today and analysed by Business Post, the lender declared a turnover of N474.6 billion in Q3 2018 against the N531.3 billion declared in the corresponding period of 2017.
This was as both the operating expenses and personnel expenses increased during the period under review.
While the operating expenses rose to N116.7 billion from N115.6 billion, the personnel expenses moved up to N51.7 billion from N45.9 billion.
In the results, Zenith Bank said its net interest income increased to N228.5 billion from N201.5 billion, with the interest and similar income recording N339.1 billion versus N361. billion in Q3 2017, while the interest and similar expense closed at N110.6 billion in contrast to N160.3 billion 12 months ago.
In addition, there was a drop in the trading income, which closed at N52.9 billion against N81.8 billion, while the fee and commission income went down to N70 billion from N71 billion last year.
For the profit before tax, Zenith Bank declared N167.3 billion, higher than the N152.6 billion achieved in the same period of 2017, while the profit after tax rose to N144.2 billion from N129.2 billion.
Also, the earnings per share (EPS) grew to N4.58k in the period under review from N4.11k posted exactly 12 months ago.
View the full results here
http://www.nse.com.ng/Financial_NewsDocs/23943_ZENITH_BANK_PLC_FINANCIAL_STATEMENTS_OCTOBER_2018.pdf
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale