UBA Declares N30bn Profit in First Quarter of 2020

By Dipo Olowookere

Pan Africa financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, on Thursday announced an increase in its net profit for the first quarter of 2020.

The lender, in its financial statements for the first three months of this year, declared a profit after tax of N30.1 billion as against N28.7 billion recorded in the same period of last year.

The bank, which has branches in some African countries and few European nations, reported a profit before tax of N32.7 billion in contrast to N30.2 billion over the same period of 2019.

During the period, the bank said it recorded an interest income of N109.1 billion, higher than N98.6 billion in the first three months of last year, while the interest expense increased to N43.7 billion from N40.5 billion, with the net interest income closing on March 31, 2020 at N65.4 billion compared with N58.1 billion as at March 31, 2019.

The fee and commission income grew to N28.2 billion from N24.2 billion, while the fee and commission expense increased to N9.5 billion from N7.5 billion. The net fee and commission income ended the period under review at N18.7 billion versus N16.8 billion in the same time of 2019.

The net trading and foreign exchange income of UBA jumped to N9.2 billion from N6.1 billion, while the other operating income declined to N680 million from N2.7 billion, with the total non-interest income appreciating to N28.5 billion from N25.6 billion and operating income rising to N93.9 billion from N83.7 billion.

The lender stated in the earnings that employee benefit expenses increased to N22.0 billion from N18.1 billion, while other operating expenses jumped to N32.5 billion from N30.1 billion, with the total operating expenses at N58.7 billion, higher than N51.9 billion in Q1 2019.

Year-to-date, the total assets increased to N6.4 trillion in the first three months of this year from N5.6 trillion in December 2019, while the total liabilities grew to N5.7 trillion within the same period from N5.0 trillion.

The borrowings in Q1 2020 increased to N863.8 billion from n758.7 billion, while deposits from customers rose to N4.3 trillion year-to-date from N3.8 trillion.