By Dipo Olowookere
The poor performance of FBN Holdings Plc in the third quarter of 2021 weakened its profit in the first nine months of the year by 40.2 per cent, analysis of the company’s financial statements by Business Post showed.
The results filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited revealed that in the period under review, the profit after tax (PAT) dropped to N40.8 billion compared with N68.2 billion in the first nine months of last year.
A critical look indicated that in Q3, which is between July and September, FBN Holdings posted a loss after tax of N2.0 billion in contrast to the N20.2 billion PAT in the same period of 2020 and this weighed on the nine months profit.
In the first nine months of this year, the financial institution posted a profit before tax of N52.9 billion, lower than the N63.3 billion achieved in the same period of last year.
A look at the top-line of the results, FBN Holdings said its gross earnings depreciated to N427.0 billion from N439.3 billion and it was observed that the interest income dropped to N260.1 billion from N297.7 billion, while the interest expected dropped to N97.2 billion from N105.0 billion, leaving the net interest income at N163.0 billion compared with N192.7 billion in the same time of last year.
After an impairment charge for losses of N29.6 billion versus N46.7 billion, the company closed September 30, 2021, with net interest income after impairment charge for losses of N133.3 billion as against N146.1 billion in the same period of 2020.
In the period under consideration, the fee and commission income grew to N103.8 billion from N87.6 billion, while the fee and commission expense jumped to N17.9 billion from N14.6 billion and this made the net fee and commission income to be at N85.9 billion versus N73.0 billion in the first nine months of 2020.
It was observed that after a spike in personnel expenses to N79.3 billion from N74.2 billion and others, FBN Holdings was left with an operating loss of N53.3 billion, lower than N63.3 billion recorded a year ago.
In the first nine months of this year, the lender’s loans to customers grew to N2.8 trillion from N2.2 trillion in the full year of 2020, while the deposits from customers jumped to N5.4 trillion from N4.9 trillion as at December 31, 2020.
