**Pays N2.40k Per Share Dividend
By Dipo Olowookere
Foremost pan-African lender, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc has released its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017 to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges.
A review of the results shows positive performance across all financial indices, reaffirming the bank’s position as one of the most profitable and well managed financial institutions in Nigeria.
In the financial statements, the lender’s gross earnings for the year grew by 1.1 percent to N419.2 billion from N414.6 billion reported in the December 2016; driven primarily by growth in interest income as well as e-payment revenues.
During the year under review, the profit before tax stood at N200.2 billion, representing a growth of 21.3 percent over N165.1billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2016, while the profit after tax was N170.5 billion last year in contrast to N132.3 billion achieved two years ago.
Also, the financial institution’s loan book dipped by 8.9 percent from N1.590 trillion recorded as at December 2016 to N1.449 trillion in December 2017 while customer deposits increased by 3.8 percent to N2.062 trillion from N1.986 trillion in December 2016.
Furthermore, the bank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 3.9 percent growth in Total Assets and Contingents as the lender closed the year ended December 2017 with Total Assets and Contingents of N3.845 trillion and Shareholders’ Funds of N625.2 billion.
In terms of assets quality, NPL ratio increased to 7.7 percent in December 2017 from 3.7 percent in December 2016 largely as a result of classification of a single exposure within the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry.
However, the non-performing loans would moderate to 4.6 percent, which is below regulatory threshold of 5 percent, if the single loan exposure is excluded from the NPL ratio computation.
Overall, asset quality remains stable with adequate coverage of 119.6 percent, while capital remains strong with CAR of 25.7 percent.
On the backdrop of this result, Return on Equity (ROAE) and Return on Assets (ROAA) closed at 35.4 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, GTBank has proposed a final dividend of 240k (N2.40k) per unit of ordinary share held by shareholders in addition to interim dividend of 30k per unit of ordinary share bringing total dividend for 2017 financial year to N2.70 per unit of ordinary share.
Commenting on the financial results, Managing Director/CEO of GTBank, Mr Segun Agbaje, said, “2017 was a pivotal year for the bank. We delivered a strong result in a challenging environment; achieving record growth in earnings, carefully managing cost margins and leveraging our digital-first customer-centric strategy to deliver world-class services that are simple, cheap and easily accessible.”
He further stated that, “The result demonstrates the fundamental strength of our franchise as well as the progress we are making in transforming our organization into a platform on which our customers could build their businesses, connect with their consumers and access all the resources that they need to make their lives better.”
GTBank has continued to report the best financial ratios for a Financial Institution in the industry as revealed by its return on equity (ROE) of 35.4 percent and cost to income ratio of 38.1 percent evidencing the efficient management of assets and operational efficiency.
Overall, the bank has enshrined its position as a clear leader in the industry.
In recognition of its innovation and hard work, GTBank received over 20 international awards in 2017.
