Access Bank posts 58% profit growth in FY 2018

By Chioma Obinagwam

Access Bank Plc has said that its audited financial results for the full year (FY) ended December 31, 2018 shows an increase of 58 percent in Profit after Tax (PAT) to N95 billion from N60.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

The bank disclosed in a statement on Friday.

According to the audited results which was released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday also Gross Earnings rose 15 percent to ₦528.7 billion in FY 2018, compared to ₦459.1 billion in 2017, with interest and non-interest income contributing 72 percent and 26 percent respectively.

Profit before Tax (PBT) for the period was ₦103.2 billion, showing 32 percent growth from ₦78.2 billion in 2017 while Return on Average Equity (ROAE) stood at 19 percent with a Return on Asset (ROA) of 2.1 percent in FY 2018.

As a result of the impressive performance, the bank said it has proposed a dividend of 50 kobo per share.

Confiance News gathered from the statement that the result showed that the asset base of the Bank remained strong and diversified with growth of 21 percent Year To Date (YTD) in total assets to ₦4.95 trillion in December 2018 from ₦4.10 trillion in December 2017. Loans and Advances totaled ₦2.14 trillion as at December 2018 (December 2017: ₦2.06 trillion). Customer deposits increased by 14 percent to ₦2.57 trillion in December 2018, from ₦2.25 trillion in December 2017. Capital Adequacy (CAR) remained adequate at 20.8 percent, taking into consideration the regulatory transitional arrangement of IFRS 9 implementation. On a full impact basis, CAR stood at 19.9 percent. Similarly, Liquidity ratios of 50.9 percent (December 2017: 47.2 percent), remained well above regulatory requirements.

Commenting on the Bank’s performance during the period, Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Herbert Wigwe said, “2018 marked a significant year of progress for the Bank amidst an unfavourable macro climate. We made solid progress throughout 2018 in line with our 2018-2022 five-year strategy, and we remain committed to the achievement of our strategic imperatives going forward; as we continue to invest in our people and technology in order to improve operational efficiency and service touch points with earnings growth in 2019.”

According to him, the contribution of the Bank’s subsidiaries to Group profits grew 116 percent to ₦27.9 billion, underlined by the effective implementation of overall strategy.

“In pursuit of our vision to be one of the leading Banks in Nigeria, we took accelerated strides in the last quarter of the year towards achieving our overall retail strategy. The merger with Diamond Bank will enable us to fully entrench ourselves in the retail market with a view to lowering our funding cost. This transaction is anticipated to be completed by April 2019, resulting in the creation of an enlarged, efficient and digitally led tier 1 retail banking franchise” he stated.

Access Bank is a full service commercial bank operating through branches and service outlets located in major centers primarily across Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the United Kingdom (extension to United Arab Emirates (Dubai), with representative offices in China, Lebanon, and India. The Group provides a wide range of banking and other financial services to over 10 million customers from 402 branches and service centers.

The bank recently got the approval of it’s shareholders and that of Diamond Bank for it’s merger exercise, which will transform the bank to the largest in Africa by number of customers, equated to the size of a country.