By Dipo Olowookere
The different strategies being put in place by the management of Unity Bank to make the company a strong competitor in the sector seem to be working.
On Tuesday, the lender released its financial statements for the half year ended June 30, 2019 and from the analysis done by Business Post, the performance of the bank was impressive.
According to the results, there were significant growths in both the topline and bottomline, which would excite shareholders.
In the period under review, the bank improved its gross income by 17 percent, recording N10.6 billion in H1 2019 versus N17.5 billion in H1 2018.
Also, the interest and similar income appreciated to N17.3 billion from N14.1 billion, indicating an improvement by 23 percent. In addition, the interest and similar expense rose to N9.9 billion from N16.4 billion, reducing the net interest income by 4 percent to N7.4 billion from N7.7 billion.
A total of N756.4 million was realized under fee and commission income against N750.5 million in the first half of 2018, indicating a slight increase of one percent, while the trading income significantly grew by 125 percent to N64.1 million from N28.5 million.
However, the other operating income decreased by 6 percent to N2.5 billion from N2.6 billion, slicing the total operating income to N10.7 billion from N11.2 billion.
In the period under review, Unity Bank reduced its personnel expenses to N4.7 billion from N5.1 billion, while the total operating costs dropped to N3.8 billion from N4.6 billion.
The profit before tax, according to the financial details, stood at N1.1 billion in the first six months of this year against N535.7 million, while the profit after tax rose to N967.5 million from N492.8 million, representing a 93 percent improvement respectively.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale