Unity Bank has declared a Profit After Tax of N1.03bn for the half year ended June 30, 2020. This was against the N967.51m it reported last year.
The Nigerian bank‘s gross earnings also grew to N22.87bn in the review period.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, stated this in the bank’s unaudited financials submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Somefun said that the half-year gross earnings rose by 11 per cent to N22.87bn from N20.55bn in the corresponding period of 2019.
Profit Before Tax grew by seven per cent to N1.12bn in the period under review from N1.05bn achieved in 2019.
The results showed that the lender recorded gross earnings of N11.01bn, a five per cent growth from the N10.50bn recorded for the same period in 2019.
Similarly, the bank’s interest earnings increase by 15 per cent to N19.79bn from N17.27bn in the corresponding period in 2019.
Its total operating income also grew by 14 per cent to N12.14bn from N10.69bn in the same period in 2019. Earnings per share stood at 17.64 kobo for the period ending June 30.
The report also showed a huge boost in asset, which saw a 48 per cent growth to N445.95bn from N293.05bn in the same period in 2019.
This follows the growth of its loan book, which rose by 53.7 per cent to N131.48bn from N70.62bn in Q2 2019.
A further review of the H1 financial statement showed that the agribusiness-focused lender grew its deposit by 19 per cent to N306.47bn from N257.69bn as at December 2019.
Somefun said, “Despite the inclement economic conditions occasioned by the global pandemic, which almost paused or at best put activities at a slower pace in virtually all sectors of the economy, the bank has been able to ride the waves to maintain its growth trajectory looking at the key performance indicators.
“The assessment, therefore, is that the repositioning efforts, which have taken root before the headwinds, are equally able to withstand shocks.
“The growing health and strength of the bank’s balance sheet is attributable to the fact that while the bank remained focused on its niche market, which is agribusiness, the bank has also continued to grow its brand franchise in many areas of the retail market by promoting and leveraging its agriculture value chain businesses as an offshoot,” she said.
The statement added that the views of analysts continued to reinforce the gains of the repositioning drive anchored on agribusiness as the backbone for the steady growth and performance in the half-year 2020.
