United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its audited half-year financial results for the period ending June 30, 2021, revealing strong growth across all main revenue lines and performance parameters. The pan-African banking institution’s earnings before tax increased by 33.4 percent to N76.2 billion in June 2021, up from N57.1 billion in the same month of 2020, equating to an annualized Return on Average Equity of 17.5 percent, up from 15.1 percent the year before.
Despite the difficult business and economic environment created by the slow pace of activity following the global lockdown caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, this achievement was achieved. According to the figures filed with the Nigerian Exchange, the Group’s profit after tax was N60.6 billion, up 36.3 percent from N44.4 billion in the first half of 2020, and total earnings increased to N316 billion from N300.6 billion in June 2020, a five percent increase. The group’s Total Assets surpassed N8 trillion on June 30, 2021, rising from N7.7 trillion at the end of the previous financial year to N8.3 trillion on June 30, 2021.
Customer deposits also surpassed N6 trillion in the period under consideration, increasing by 7.4% to N6.1 trillion from N5.7 trillion in December 2020. The group’s shareholders’ funds remained strong at N752.5 billion, up from N724.1 billion in December 2020, demonstrating the group’s excellent ability to generate internal capital.
The Board of Directors of UBA Plc has declared an interim dividend of 20kobo per share for every ordinary share of 50kobo held by its shareholders, in keeping with the bank’s tradition of paying both interim and final cash dividends. Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, UBA’s group managing director/chief executive officer, expressed satisfaction with the bank’s performance in the first half of the year, saying,
“We had a strong first half as the global economic recovery outperformed expectations, boosting consumer and corporate confidence, as well as savings and investment activity. As we proceeded to harness our major strategic levers – People, Process, and Technology, as well as our Customer 1st Philosophy – to revolutionize the customer experience at UBA, we saw this positively influence our business.”
He went on to say that the bank’s investment in the Rest of Africa (excluding Nigeria) is continuing to pay off well for the company. “The benefits of pan-African business diversification accruing to the Group are once again evident, with gross earnings and interest income growth of 5.1 and 8.2 percent, respectively, despite the low yield environment in our largest market, Nigeria,” he says.
We’re making incredible progress on our strategy, which is steadily positioning UBA as the continent’s bank of choice, thanks to our focus on tech-driven innovation and the best customer experience.” Continuing, the GMD stated that the bank recognizes the pandemic’s far-reaching consequences on businesses around the world and that it remains committed to providing the greatest banking experiences possible to its customers.