Union Bank Declares N12.1b Profit Before Tax

By Lance Momodu Jnr
Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc has declared profit before tax of N12.1 billion for the half year, ended June 30, 2019.
The profit signified a rise by four per cent when compared to N11.7 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2018.
The result published by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, indicates that gross earnings stood at N76 billion.
This was in contrast with ₦83.3 billion posted half year 2018, indicating a decline of nine per cent due to decrease in average earning assets.
Interest income dropped by eight per cent to ₦57.3bn against ₦62.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2018.
Also, net interest income after loss, rose by three per cent to ₦30.5 billion against ₦29.7 billion in H1 2018, consolidated by a tenacious drive in collections.
Net operating income was slightly down by two per cent to ₦49.6 billion compared with ₦50.9 billion in the previous period of 2018.
Also, operating expenses was down by four per cent to ₦37.5 billion against ₦39.2 billion in H1 2018; reflecting the gains of the bank’s cost optimisation programme.
Commenting on the results, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Emuwa, said it was able to deliver growth in profit before tax despite the realities of a challenging economic environment.
“Regardless of the realities of operating in a challenging economic space, the Group delivered one per cent growth in Profit Before Tax to ₦12.1 billion from ₦11.7 billion in H1 2018’’.
“To sustain growth in earnings, we remained resilient in our commitment to delivering value and first-class customer service to all our customers’’.
“We have developed a consolidated and clear plan to increase our risk assets with our loan book rising by eight per cent to ₦563.0 billion compared to year-end 2018’’.
“The ability to take on more risk is contingent on our robust risk management and debt recovery procedures working in sync, leading to recoveries of over N5 billion in the period’’.