By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Access Bank Plc on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, released its financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2018.
In the highlights of the financial scorecard, the lender posted a 11.92 percent decline in its profit before tax, closing at N45.8 billion in the period under review against N52.1 billion in the same period of last year.
However, the profit after tax was almost flat, slightly increasing by 0.00004 percent to close at N39.6 billion versus N39.5 billion.
In the first half of this year, Access Bank recorded a gross earnings of N253 billion compared with N246.6 billion.
It was stated that the interest income grew to N186.7 billion in H1 2018 from N161.9 billion in H1 2018, just as the interest expense went up to N101.4 billion from N78.9 billion.
Also, the net interest income rose to N85.3 billion from N83 billion, while the fee and commission income jumped to N30.3 billion from N25.1 billion.
In addition, the net impairment charge closed at N7.3 billion versus N10.4 billion a year ago, while net fee and commission expense ended at N217.9 million as at June 30, 2018 against N250.5 million as at June 30, 2017.
A look at Access Bank’s balance sheet showed that the total assets closed at N4.4 trillion as June 30, 2018 versus N4.1 trillion as at December 31, 2017, while the total liabilities ended at N3.9 trillion as at June 30, 2018 in contrast to N3.5 trillion as at December 31, 2017.
Business Post reports that the earnings per share of the financial institution was flat, standing at N1.38k, same amount in H1 2017.
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale