By Dipo Olowookere
Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Mr Hassan Usman, has promised that the Nigeria’s premier non-interest (Islamic) lender will improve its funding to SMEs and real sector as part of its strategy for growth.
Mr Usman gave this assurance while commenting on the nine-month results of the company for the period ended September 30, 2019, where the financial institution once again showed its capability of rounding up the year positively by posting impressive numbers.
Key extracts of the nine-month financial scorecard of the lender released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recently indicated that total income rose by 49.2 percent, while pre and post-tax profits increased by 509.47 percent and 673.21 percent respectively.
While the profit before tax increased from N241.3 million to N1.47 billion, net profit rose to N1.25 billion from N161.7 million in the corresponding period of 2018.
The bank also grew its total income by 49.2 percent from N5.14 billion in the corresponding period of 2018 to N7.7 billion at the end of September 30, 2019, while earning per share improved by 670.91 percent from 0.55 kobo to N4.24 kobo.
The balance sheet showed stronger underlying strength during the period as total assets rose by 40 percent from N108.46 billion to N152 billion, while the bank’s liabilities also grew by 45.60 percent from N95.35 billion in September 2018 to N138.84 billion in the period under review.
This growth trajectory of the bank can be traced to its early positive development right from the beginning of the when it posted impressive results in both first and second quarters of the year.
For instance, the bank grew its total income by 42.17 percent from N3.39 billion as at June 30, 2018 to N4.82 billion at the end of June 30, 2019, while earning per share improved by 294.87 percent, from 0.78 kobo to N3.08 kobo.
Still in the second quarters, its total assets rose by 47.62 percent from N99.58 billion to N144 billion, while return on Investment grew by 18.35 percent from N1.01 billion to N1.2 billion.
The bank’s first quarter results laid the foundation for positive outing as it recorded a profit after tax of N428.68 million compared to the N124.58 million recorded in the comparable period in 2018. Key underlying ratios showed improvements in returns and operational strength of the bank.
According to Mr Usman, said the nine-month results further demonstrated that the bank has the capacity to grow sustainably in line with its strategic vision of becoming the leading non-interest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.
He further assured that while maintaining steady focus on elements that contributed to improved performance thus far and barring unforeseen circumstances, this trend would be improved upon in the remaining period of the financial year.
