Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Leading tier-two Nigerian lender, Fidelity Bank Plc, has continued to soar higher, posting a double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2019.
In its financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2019 released today, the bank grew its gross earnings by 11.81 percent to N48.4 billion from N43.3 billion, while fee and commission income went up by 39.52 percent to N6.5 billion from N4.7 billion.
In the period under review, the interest and similar income rose to N38.7 billion from N37.7 billion, with the impairment charge closing at N1 billion as at March 31, 2019 against N702 million as at March 31, 2018, with the fee and commission expense rising to N1.1 billion from N1 billion.
In Q1 2019, Fidelity Bank increased its profit before tax by 33.96 percent to N6.7 billion from N5 billion, while the profit after tax rose by 28.38 percent to N5.9 billion from N4.6 billion.
In the period under review, the earnings per share appreciated by 28.38 percent to 21 kobo from 16 kobo, with the shareholders’ fund growing to N202 billion from N179.7 million.
A further analysis of the results by Business Post showed that Fidelity Bank improved its total deposits by 3.8 percent to N1 billion, while total loans increased by 13.7 percent to N966.3 billion, with the cost to income ratio rising by 68.4 percent.
In addition, the company closed with a cost of risk of 0.5 percent, an NPL Ratio of 4.9 percent, Liquidity Ratio of 37.2 percent and a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 16.5 percent.
