First Bank of Nigeria Plc has recorded 7.4 per cent drop in net interest income for the half-year ended June 30, 2020, to N131.3bn, compared to N141.7bn achieved at the comparable period of 2020, while non-interest income stood at N80.1bn, up 46.8 per cent year-on-year.
The bank has equally achieved 8.8 per cent rise in its customer deposits to N4.4tn, while it posted N49.5bn profit after tax, which represents 56.3 per cent growth, compared to N31.6bn achieved by the group during the first half of 2019.
Further analysis of the unaudited results showed that gross earnings rose 5.8 per cent to N296.4bn, as against N280.3bn in the same period of last year.
The group’s profit before tax stood at N41.4bn, up 14.3 per cent year-on-year, compared with N36.2bn achieved in 2019.
It also recorded total assets of N7.1tn, up 14.9 per cent year-to-date compared to N6.2tn achieved in 2019 while customer deposits stood at N4.4tn, up 8.8 per cent year-to-date when compared to N4tn achieved in 2019.
FBN Holdings also recorded a non-performing loan ration of 8.8 per cent, an improvement from 9.9 per cent recorded in December 2019 while marinating 16.5 per cent Basel 2 Capital Adequacy Ratio as against 15.5 per cent in December 2019.
Commenting on the results, the Group Managing Director of the financial institution, UK Eke, said, “The first half of our 2020 financial results are impressive and reconfirm our consistent focus on enhanced shareholder value.
“Despite the difficult operating environment, the H1 results demonstrate our resilience and capacity to deliver on long-term ambitions.
“The 56.3 per cent year-on-year growth in profit after tax for the period is a testament to the strength of our organisation to continually deliver exceptional services to our customers in these unprecedented times. We have been able to achieve this feat by leveraging our agent banking network, innovative e-commercial banking segment of the bank also achieved gross earnings of N278.7bn, up 6.1 per cent year-on-year compared with N262.8bn recorded in June 2019.”
Also commenting on the results, the Chief Executive Officer of First Bank and its subsidiaries, Adesola Adeduntan, stated, “Over the period, the commercial banking group increased its year-on-year growth in gross earnings and profit before tax by 6.1 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively.
“Despite the economic shutdown during the quarter and varying degrees of challenges in the operating environment.”
