By Dipo Olowookere
On Wednesday, September 26, 2018, Fidelity Bank Plc finally released its financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2018.
In the half-year results, the lender posted a 3.61 percent growth in gross earnings from N88.917 billion from N85.821 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
Also during the period under review, the company’s profit after tax appreciated by 31.07 percent to N11.843 billion from N9.036 billion, while the profit before tax rose by 21.45 percent from N10.219 billion to N13.010 billion.
A further analysis of the financial statements showed that the interest and similar income increased from N71.097 billion from N72.876 billion just at the interest and similar expense rose to N41.989 billion from N38.153 billion.
According to Fidelity Bank, its other operating expenses jumped to N19.344 billion from N17.972 billion, while the depreciation and amortisation rose to N2.816 billion from N1.855 billion.
However, the net interest income in the first six months of this year dropped to N30.887 billion from N32.944 billion in H1 2017, while the net interest income after credit loss expense was relatively flat at N28.294 billion versus N28.134 billion 12 months earlier.
During the period under review, the fee and commission income rose to N13.703 billion from N9.411 billion, while the fee and commission expense stood at N1.759 billion against N1.988 billion in the same period of 2017.
In the financial statements, Fidelity Bank said its earnings per share (EPS) as at June 30, 2018 stood at 41 kobo versus 31 kobo in H1 2017.
