Unity Bank records N3.4b profit in 2019

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Unity Bank records N3.4b profit in 2019
June 12, 2020

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Unity Bank Plc grew its top-line by 28.7 per cent to N44.59 billion in 2019 as the bank continued its growth trajectory with net profit of N3.4 billion during the year. Interim report of the bank for the first quarter of 2020 showed that pre-tax profit grew to N550 million within the three-month period.

The recent reports showed that the bank has continued on strong growth path started in 2018, after the bank took bold corporate action to clean up its balance sheet in 2017.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2019 showed that gross earnings rose from N34.65 billion in 2018 to N44.59 billion in 2019. Profit before tax stood at N3.64 billion while profit after tax closed at N3.38 billion. It had posted loss of N7.7 billion in 2018.

The interim report for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 showed profit before tax of N550 million in first quarter 2020 as against N505.3 million recorded in comparable period of 2019. Profit after tax increased by nine per cent to N506.07 million in first quarter 2020 as against N464.87 million recorded in first quarter 2019.

Further analysis of the full-year results showed a relatively strong growth across key financial metrics with net operating income rising by 76.39 per cent to N23.211 billion in 2019 as against N13.159 billion in 2018. Net interest income also grew by 18.06 per cent to N16.493 billion from N13.970 billion while  total asset jumped by 71.93 per cent to N293.052 billion in December 2019 as against N210.80 billion in December 2018. The retail lender also recorded a total comprehensive income of N5.52 billion while earnings per share stood at 28.94 Kobo in 2019.

The results showed that the bank grew its loan books by 135.87 per cent to N104.02 billion in 2019 as against the N44.10 billion in 2018. Unity Bank had embarked on several cost minimization initiatives that appeared to be yielding positive results. These led to a decrease in the bank’s total operating expenses to N19.57 billion in 2019 from N20.71 billion in 2018.

Managing Director, Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun said that the potential in many aspects of the bank’s business as reflected in its growing balance sheet was indicative of market confidence in repositioning efforts.

She said the bank will continue to implement these measures, which are aimed at building processes that attract efficiency gains in resource allocation throughout the bank, to boost profitability and bring more value to shareholders.

“It is also noteworthy that playing in the agriculture sector as part of growth strategy and as bulwarks to drive value chain businesses in many segments of the retail market has continued to pay off. Looking ahead, we shall consolidate on the gains in the agribusiness, capitalizing on the growing profile in the sector, whilst also focusing on the youth market with increased investment in technology”, Somefun said.

According to her, the quest to deepen the bank’s retail play will go hand in hand with its focus on digital innovations. The bank has already deployed USSD banking, carried out augmentation of the platform to introduce local languages and further drive financial inclusion and had also launched omni-channel to cater for all segments of the banking public, especially the underbanked.

“In the coming years, the bank will be opening more channels and bundled products bouquet for identified cluster initiatives and also leverage and expand relationships with other partners to drive more growth in earnings and profits,” Somefun said.

She added that the bank has concluded arrangements to launch a healthcare product called UnityCares to tap into credit support intervention scheme for the health sector being rolled out by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as stimulus packages to support the indigenous pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners that hope to build and expand capacity.