Union Bank of Nigeria Plc recorded an 11 per cent increase in its profit before tax for the first quarter of 2015, the bank’s unaudited results for the period showed.
The results showed that its PBT rose from N4.45bn in the first quarter of 2014 to N4.9bn in the period under review, while its total comprehensive income was up by 17 per cent year-on-year from N4.8bn in Q1 2014 to N5.6bn.
The return on equity was 9.5 per cent (9.4 per cent Q1 2014), while the earnings per share stood at 29 kobo, up from 26 kobo in the corresponding period of last year.
Union Bank’s total assets rose by four per cent to N957bn from N921bn as of December 2014, while customer deposits were up by six per cent to N539.4bn from N507.4bn in December.
According to the bank, the performance shows continuing improvement in its profitability trend and the financial metrics remain positive for 2015.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Emuwa, was quoted as saying that the bank overcame headwinds in the financial sector to boost its profits.
He said, “Maintaining the momentum from 2014, gross earnings increased by 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 compared to Q1 2014, and despite pervasive headwinds in the macroeconomic environment, the bank delivered profit before tax of N4.9bn during the quarter, an 11 per cent over the same period in 2014.”
He explained that the bank focused on delivering critical operational and technology initiatives during the first quarter of the year, a move expected to further boost its profitability.
Emuwa added, “We have completed migration to Oracle Flexcube UBS 12.0, the latest version of the Flexcube banking platform, which will eliminate previous system redundancies and enable faster customer service and turnaround times in our branches one full integration has been achieved mid-year.
“In addition, we continued to focus on growing our corporate and commercial businesses and enhancing our retail product offering.”
According to him, going into the rest of the year, as the bank’s new platform enhances efficiencies, it will focus on growing the retail business with a revamped product portfolio, enhanced marketing communication and an evolving branch network.
The Chief Financial Officer, Union Bank, Mrs. Oyinkan Adewale, said, “The focus for 2015 will be to sustain the positive trend in our cost to income ratio, while utilising the balance sheet more efficiently to take advantage of opportunities in defined segments of the economy where we expect to see increased activity this year.”
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