Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc posted an increase of 62 per cent and 106 per cent year-on-year, respectively in their profits after tax for the first quarter of the year.
GTBank saw its profit after tax and pre-tax profit rise to N41.477bn and N50.392bn in Q1 2017 from N25.614bn and N30.676bn in the same quarter of last year, according to its condensed unaudited group interim financial statements filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Analyst at FBN Capital Limited, in an emailed note, attributed the bank’s profit rise to a positive result on the other comprehensive income line of N568m (compared with a sizeable loss of N5.3bn a year earlier).
They said, “The main driver behind the strong y-o-y growth in earnings was a solid performance in net interest income: it grew by 62 per cent y-o-y to N66bn. In contrast, non-interest income (which had boosted the bank’s results through most of 2016 on the back of forex-related gains) was up only by five per cent y-o-y.”
Stanbic IBTC’s unaudited consolidated interim financial statements filed with the NSE showed that its after-tax profit rose to N16.074bn from N7.791bn in Q1 2016.
The group’s profit before tax increased to N18.626bn in the first three months of the year from N10.243bn in the corresponding period of last year.
Its gross earnings stood at N47bn, representing an increase of 35 per cent over the N34.8bn recorded in the comparable period of last year, while total assets rose to N1.2tn from N1.1tn in December 2016.
The Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mr. Yinka Sanni, said the group achieved significant growth in profit after tax despite the challenging trading environment, which was characterised by challenges with foreign exchange liquidity, difficult credit environment and an increasing cost of operations.
He said, “We remain positive that economic activities will improve as the Nigerian economy is beginning to show signs of positive outlook due to an increase in the supply of forex to both retail and corporate users and decreasing headline inflation.”
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