Interest income, e-payment revenues uplift Bank's 2017 financial earnings

The Bank is proposing a final dividend of 240k per unit of ordinary share held by shareholders in addition to interim dividend of 30k per unit of ordinary share bringing total dividend for 2017 financial year to ₦2.70 per unit of an ordinary share.

The Gross earnings for the year increased by 1. 1 percent, primarily driven by growth in interest income as well as e-payment revenues.

Commenting on the financial results, the Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, Mr. said; “2017 was a pivotal year for the bank. We delivered a strong result in a challenging environment; achieving record growth in earnings, carefully managing cost margins and leveraging our digital-first customer-centric strategy to deliver world-class services that are simple, cheap and easily accessible.”

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He further stated that “The result demonstrates the fundamental strength of our franchise as well as the progress we are making in transforming our organization into a platform on which our customers could build their businesses, connect with their consumers and access all the resources that they need to make their lives better.”

Here are some other highlights from the release:

- Gross earnings for the year grew by 1.1% to ₦419.2billion from ₦414.6billion reported in the December 2016

- Profit before tax stood at ₦200.2billion, representing a growth of 21.3% over ₦165.1billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2016.

- The Bank’s loan book dipped by 8.9 percent from ₦1.590trillion recorded in December 2016 to ₦1.449trillion in December 2017

- Customer deposits increased by 3.8 percent to ₦2.062trillion from ₦1.986trillion in December 2016

- Return on Equity (ROAE) and Return on Assets (ROAA) closed at 35.4 percent and 6.2 percent respectively

- Asset quality remains stable with adequate coverage of 119.6 percent, while Capital remains strong with CAR of 25.7 percent

- Non-performing loans at 4.6 percent, below regulatory threshold.

The Bank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 3.9 percent growth in Total Assets and Contingents as the Bank closed the year ended December 2017 with Total Assets and Contingents of ₦3.845trillion and Shareholders’ Funds of ₦625.2Billion. In terms of Assets quality, NPL ratio increased to 7.7 percent in December 2017 from 3.7 percent.

Zenith Bank releases financial statement

On Tuesday, Zenith Bank Plc, also released a financial statements for the 12 months ended December 2017with gross earnings at ₦745 billion an increase from ₦507 billion in 2016 while profit before tax increased from ₦156 billion in 2016 to ₦203 billion in 2017 and profit after tax from ₦129 billion in 2016 to ₦177 billion in 2017.

The Bank's earnings per share also increased from ₦4.12 in 2016 to ₦5.66 in 2017 with a final declared dividend of ₦2.45 per share.

Other Nigerian banks are expected to release their financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017.