By Dipo Olowookere
The board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has announced the results of the company for the first quarter of 2019.
In the financial statements, Ecobank reported 8 percent decline in its profit before tax, which dropped to $103 million on operating income or net revenue of $388million, compared with a profit before tax of $111 million on operating income of $465 million for Q1 2018, but when adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange (FX) translation, profit before taxi ncreased 31 percent to $145 million.
According to the results, profit attributable to shareholders of Ecobank and diluted earnings-per-share (EPS) declined 19 percent to $62 million and $0.0025, respectively.
Recently,
Ecobank successfully raised $450 million in its debut Eurobond. The unsecured note has a 5-year maturity and coupon rate of 9.5 percent, and was oversubscribed.
In the period being reviewed, the lender’s strong momentum in client engagement, digitalisation, and cash management drove a 9 percent increase in customer deposits to $16,841 million, on a constant currency basis ($15,191 million on a reported basis).
Net loans and advances went up by 10 percent to $9,794 million, on a constant currency basis ($8,583 million on a reported basis), with the Basel II/III Tier 1 and Total Capital Adequacy Ratio of 9.6 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively above the 2022 regulatory required minimums.
The bank said it recorded a strong profit before tax growth in all its regions except for Nigeria where performance was primarily affected by suspension of accrual of interest income and FX translation impact.
It noted that the customers’ experience continues to be enriched with innovative products and services –such as the Ecobank Mobile App and Ecobank Pay; its App-based Rapid Transfer, that enables diaspora to transfer money cheaper; and Omni-Lite for small business, providing effective ease of transacting.
Commenting on the performance, the Group CEO of Ecobank, Mr Ade Adeyemi said, “We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, especially amid a challenging macroeconomic environment.
“Our diversified business model continues to be of immense benefit allowing the firm to deliver the promise of the Ecobank brand to our customers across Africa.
“Our objective to drive stable non-funded revenues gained momentum, with our non-interest revenues increasing by 25 percent on a constant currency basis, driven by cash management, trade finance, and digital product offerings. We maintained cost discipline across our businesses and drove efficiency in our processes.
“We recovered a record amount of impaired loans, thanks to an effective non-performing loans recovery strategy, which helped in significantly improving our cost-of-risk.
“Overall, we are confident that Ecobank will deliver on its strategy, continue to serve our customers well, and generate attractive returns for our shareholders in the long-term.”
