GTBank’s Q3 Pre-Tax Profit Rises 3.9% to N171bn

By Dipo Olowookere

Tier-one Nigerian lender, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc, on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, released its unaudited financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2019.

From the brief analysis of the results done by Business Post, the financial institution recorded marginal growth in most of the key financial parameters in the period under consideration.

For instance, a look at the bottom-line showed that there was a 3.9 percent rise in the profit before tax, which closed at N170.7 billion compared with N164.3 billion it ended in the same period of last year.

Likewise, the profit after tax (PAT), which was N142.2 billion in the first nine months of last year, stayed at N147.0 billion in the first nine months of this year, indicating a marginal growth of 2.7 percent.

A look at the earnings per share (EPS) indicated a 3.2 percent improvement to N5.19 in Q3 2019 against N5.03 in Q3 2018.

For the top-line, the lender recorded a decline in its interest income, which dropped to N219.4 billion in the period under review from N233.7 billion in the same time of last year, while the interest reduced to N51.3 billion from N66.9 billion.

However, the net interest income slightly rose by 1.4 percent to N172.9 billion from N170.6 billion. With the loan impairment charges removed, the bank was left with N170.2 billion as its net interest income after loan impairment charges versus N168.9 billion a year earlier.

For the fee and commission income, the lender recorded N48.4 billion in the third quarter of this year in contrast to N40.4 billion in the third quarter of last year, while the fee and commission expense went down to N1.9 billion from N2.5 billion.

This kept the net fee and commission income at N46.5 billion in the period under review compared with N37.8 billion recorded in the same period of 2018.

Under the other income, GTBank said it raked N43.8 billion versus N39.3 billion, while personnel expenses gulped N27.3 billion in Q3 2019, lower than the N28.1 billion in Q3 2018.

The financial institution cut down its other operating expenses in the first nine months of this year by 7.1 percent to N54.7 billion from N58.9 billion.