United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, showing double-digit growth across most of its major income lines.
The bank leveraged on modest growth in both interest and non-interest income as well as increased efficiency to deliver an impressive 24% year-on-year growth in profit before tax in the first three months of the 2021 financial year, to N40.6 billion compared with N32.7 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2020.
Profit after tax also grew by 26.8% from N30.1 billion in March 2020 to N38.2 billion in the period under review. Interestingly, UBA again sustained its strong profitability recording an annualised 20.5% return on average equity (RoAE) compared to 19.9% in the same period of 2020.
Driven by a year-on-year growth in interest income, UBA Group recorded another impressive 5.5% percent year-on-year growth in gross earnings to close at N155.4 billion for the three month period ending March 2021, compared to N147.2 billion recorded in the first three months of last year 2020.
The bank’s total assets also rose by 2.5% to N7.9 trillion in the period under review, compared to N7.7 trillion recorded at the end of the 2020 financial year whilst shareholders’ funds grew to N762.4 billion up by 5.3% from N724.1 billion as at FY 2020.
UBA Group managing director/CEO Kennedy Uzoka expressed satisfaction with the bank’s performance in the first quarter of 2021, stating that the result reflects UBA’s capacity to sustainably grow earnings even in a highly uncertain macroeconomic environment.
He added that the robust capital and liquidity positions have positioned the bank as it continues to support its customers across diverse sectors and markets, guided by prudent risk management practices.
“This impressive 2021Q1 results reflect the capacity of our business to sustainably grow earnings even in a highly uncertain macroeconomic environment,” he said. “We remain upbeat on the macroeconomic outlook of the countries in which we operate, especially as the COVID-19 vaccine distribution gains traction globally, whilst commodity prices and currencies continue to stabilise.
“Our robust capital and liquidity positions have positioned us to continue to support our customers across diverse sectors and markets, guided by prudent risk management practices.”
Uzoka pointed out the bank’s effort towards diligently executing its priorities for the year 2021, as it leverages people, process, and technology to deliver the best customer experience across all its channels and touchpoints, achieving industry leadership and dominance.
Further breaking down the figures, UBA Group chief finance officer Ugo Nwaghodoh said, “I am particularly pleased with our annualised return on average equity of 20.5% and return on average asset of 2.0%, as these indices buttress our commitment to delivering sustainable value to our stakeholders.
“We continued to deploy our balance sheet efficiency and digital-led cost optimisation initiatives to achieve desired outcomes. Cost-to-income ratio improved by 200bps to 60.4% during the period, whilst cost of funds settled at 2.0%, a 130bps reduction from 3.3% in 2020Q1.”
Nwaghodoh expressed confidence that the bank would meet and surpass its target for the remaining three quarters of the year.
