FBN Holdings Posts N627bn Gross Earnings, Profit Grew By 26.5% In 2019
By UDO ONYEKA
FBN Holdings Plc has declared Gross earnings of N627.0 billion for full year ended December 31, 2019.
The earning went up by 6.7 per cent when compared to N587.4 billion achieved in 2018.
Profit after tax stood at N73.7 billion, indicating 26.5 per cent more than N58.2 billion recorded in 2018, leaving net-interest income at N290.2 billion, up by 1.7 per cent in contrast with N285.3 billion in 2018.
The financial result presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that Customer deposits increased by 15.3 per cent to N4.0 trillion compared with N3.5 trillion in 2018.
The company’s non-interest income appreciated by 20.6 per cent to N159.2 billion against N132.0 billion in 2018.
Further analysis of the result indicated that impairment charges was down by 41.5 per cent to N51.1 billion against N87.5 billion in the previous period.
Its total assets stood at N6.2 trillion, representing an increase of 11.4 per cent on the N5.6 trillion recorded in 2018.
Non Performing Loan (NPL) ratio returned to single digit at 9.9 per cent against 24.7 per cent achieved in 2018.
Meanwhile the Financial institution has proposed a dividend of 38k to its shareholders ahead of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for April 27.
Commenting on the performance Group Managing Director, Mr. Urum Kalu Eke,described 2019 as a positive year.
“We are happy to close the 2019 financial year on positive notes across a number of key metrics, giving the Group a clean-slate to accelerate its growth plan as we conclude the 3-year Strategic Planning Cycle which ran from 2017-2019 and commence a new cycle.
“In line with our promise to the market, FBN Holdings closed the year with a 30.9 per cent y-o-y increase in profit before tax and delivered its target of a single digit NPL which closed at less than 10 per cent.
“Similarly, we successfully overhauled our risk management architecture, strengthened our processes by leveraging technology and institutionalising a strong credit culture across the lending entities,” he said.
He said, deliberate steps have seen the NPL ratio of the company’s vintage book remain below 1 per cent.
“In the same vein, we have made significant improvement in our revenue generation capacity with non-interest income benefiting from our market leadership in electronic banking channels.
“It is also noteworthy to highlight that our investments aimed at improving operational efficiencies and enhancing revenue accretion have resulted in higher cost-to-income ratio.
“The benefits of these investments will be realised in subsequent periods.
“The new cycle is focused on strengthening and positioning the various businesses across the Group for sustainable growth over the long-term.
“As a Group, we are committed to transforming our financial performance to tangible results for the benefit of all stakeholders especially our shareholders through enhanced returns and dividend payment”, he noted.
