United Bank for Africa Plc’s profit before tax rose by 33.4 per cent to N76.2bn in the first half of 2021 from the N57.1bn recorded in the same period of 2020, translating to an annualised return on average equity of 17.5 per cent from 14.4 per cent in the previous year.
The bank said this on Thursday in a statement on its audited financial results for the period ended June 30, 2021 titled ‘UBA records 33 per cent YoY profit growth, declares 20k per share interim dividend’.
It said it recorded impressive growth across all major income lines and performance indicators despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bank said the results, filed with the Nigerian Exchange, showed that the group’s profit after tax stood at N60.6bn, representing 36.3 per cent rise compared to the N44.4bn recorded in the half year of 2020, while gross earnings rose to N316bn from N300.6bn in H1 2020.
It said as of June 30, 2021, the group’s total assets crossed the N8tn mark, rising to N8.3tn from N7.7tn at the end of the 2020 financial year.
Customer deposits also crossed the N6tn mark, growing by 7.4 per cent to N6.1tn in the period under consideration from N5.7tn as of December 2020.
According to the statement, the group’s shareholders’ funds remained robust at N752.5bn up from N724.1bn in December 2020, reflecting its strong capacity for internal capital generation.
It said in line with the bank’s culture of paying both interim and final cash dividend, the board of directors of UBA declared an interim dividend of 20 kobo per share for every ordinary share of 50 kobo each, held by its shareholders.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, expressed delight over the bank’s performance in the first half of the year.
He said, “This has been a strong first half for us, as global economic recovery exceeded expectations, creating a positive rub-off on consumer and corporate confidence, savings and investment activities.
“We saw this positively impact our business, as we continued to leverage our key strategic levers – people, process and technology, and our customer 1st philosophy, to revolutionise customer experience at UBA.”
