By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s leading merchant banking brand, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, has announced its 2017 full year results, posting a 66 percent increase in its gross earnings.
Presenting the financial documents to its stakeholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, chief executive of the lender, Mr Abu Jimoh, said the firm achieved a Profit Before Tax of N5.1 billion.
According to him, “Despite the tough market conditions that characterized significant parts of the year, the underlying business fundamentals of the bank remained strong as reflected in the gross earnings growth of 66 percent to N25.5 billion in 2017.
“As we progress in our journey to become Africa’s premier investment bank, we remain committed to providing our clients with superior financial services whilst generating attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders.”
Mr Jimoh further said, “The impressive results of the bank in the last three years demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy, the quality of our past decisions and the commitment of our board and management to maximize shareholder value whilst actively expanding our franchise in select, high growth markets where we believe we have a competitive advantage.”
He said Coronation MB Group recorded a notable improvement in key performance metrics in 2017, despite the tough and challenging operating environment.
“Our interest income growth of 67 percent y/y and non-interest income growth of 57 percent in 2017 re-affirm the sustainability of our core business growth.
“We will continue to gain momentum in our efforts to achieve more diversified earnings, as we strengthen our subsidiaries offerings.
“Our deliberate focus on the efficiency of our business operations has continued to yield considerable returns for the bank.
“Despite the high inflation rate, cost-to-income ratio increased marginally by 90bps to 46.1 percent (Dec 2016: 45.2 percent), reaffirming the bank’s commitment to rein in costs while improving operating efficiency,” the bank chief noted.
Mr Jimoh said aside from the strong earnings performance, the group recorded a significant growth in its Balance Sheet in 2017.
Total assets increased by 28 percent to N136.7 billion from N106.6 billion in December 2016, and shareholder’s funds increased to N29.5 billion from N25.9 billion – a valid testament to the resilience of the group’s operations and its adaptability to current market realities and challenges.
But Mr Jimoh assured that, “We will continue to maintain a disciplined and prudent approach in asset creation in line with our overall risk management framework and evidenced in our growth in loan book of 42 percent which increased from N22.7 billion to N32.3 billion with zero NPL.”
He said, “While general economic conditions and the regulatory environment remain tight, we believe that our new business and lending strategies, embedded risk management culture and continuous cost savings will enable us to stand firm throughout this period.”
Mr Jimoh told stakeholders that, “In the coming years, we will focus on the disciplined implementation of our growth strategy to drive efficiency in all segments of our business leveraging fintech and process re-engineering.”
Coronation Merchant Bank group was established to fill the gap in a long-underserved market segment, seeking to address the need for long-term capital across key sectors of the economy, and has two branches located in Abuja and Port Harcourt with its Head Office in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Group offers investment and corporate banking, private banking/wealth management and global markets/treasury services to its diverse clients.
It also offers securities trading/brokerage, asset management and trustees services via its subsidiaries; Coronation Securities Limited, Coronation Asset Management Limited respectively.
Aduragbemi Omiyale