By Dipo Olowookere
One of the five ‘big boys’ in the banking industry in Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, released its earnings for the first quarter of 2018.
However, unlike the others, which have released their results, the lender recorded a 1.3 percent drop in its profit when compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Specifically, Access Bank said its profit after tax in Q1 2018 was N22.1 billion compared with N22.4 billion achieved in Q1 2017, while its profit before tax went down by 0.6 percent to N27.4 billion from N27.6 billion.
However, the interest income grew during the period under review by 20.5 percent to N95.6 billion from N79.3 percent in the corresponding period of 2017 just as the net interest income improved by 4.5 percent to N44.7 billion from N42.7 billion.
Business Post reports that Access Bank realized N15.9 billion from fees and commission in Q1 2018 against N11.8 billion made in Q1 2017, representing an improvement by 34.4 percent.
Also, the net gains on investment securities increased by 399.4 percent in the first three months of this year to N27.7 billion from N5.5 billion in the first three months of last year.
However, the lender suffered a huge loss in its net foreign exchange income, closing at negative N6.8 billion in Q1 2018 against N17.1 billion gain in Q1 2017, indicating a 140 percent decline.
A look at the bank’s balance sheet showed that its total assets improved in Q1 2018, closing at N4.4 trillion compared with N4.1 trillion in Q1 2017.
However, the total liabilities stood at N3.9 trillion as at March 31, 2018, in contrast to N3.6 trillion as at March 31, 2017, while the shareholders’ fund closed at N454.4 billion in Q1 2018 against N515.5 billion in Q1 2017.
Also, the Earnings per share (EPS) declined by 1.3 percent to 76 kobo in the period under review from 77 kobo in the corresponding period of 2017.
In addition, the PBT Margin depreciated by 16.2 percent to 19.95 percent in Q1 2018 from 23.80 percent in 2017, while the PAT Margin went down by 16.8 percent to 16.08 percent from 19.33 percent.
Furthermore, the return on assets (ROA) decreased by 7.5 percent to 0.51 percent in Q1 2018 from 0.55 percent, while the return of equity (ROE) increased by 12 percent to 4.87 percent from 4.35 percent.
Business Post reports that despite the not-too-impressive results posted by Access Bank, its shares appreciated by 0.44 percent at the stock market today, closing at N11.35k per share against N11.30k per share in ended yesterday.
Adedapo Adesanya