FBN Holdings Plc on Monday announced N160 billion gross earnings in its first quarter result for the period ended March 31, 2020.
The group’s income statement showed the gross earnings were 14.5 per cent higher than the N139.4 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019. The net-interest income stood at N60.3 billion, down 15.9 per cent year-on-year , when compared with the N71.7 billion achieved in March last year.
The non-interest income of stood at N49.7 billion, up 88.9 per cent year on-year when compared with the N26.3 billion achieved same period of last year. “Operating income of N110.0 billion, up 12.2 per cent y-o-y (Mar 2019: N98.0 billion); Impairment charge for credit losses of N9.7 billion, down 29.9 per cent (Mar 2019: N13.8 billion), operating expenses of N71.6 billion, up 7.9 per cent y-o-y (Mar 2019: N66.4 billion) while profit before tax stood at N28.7 billion, up 61.5 per cent y-o-y (Mar 2019: N17.8 billion) and profit after tax of N25.7 billion, up 62.7 per cent y-o-y (Mar 2019: N15.8 billion),” the bank said.
Commenting on the results, UK Eke, the Group Managing Director of FBNHoldings said: “The financial results of first quarter 2020 is a further testament of the turnaround of our business which began to manifest in 2019. The Group posted a first quarter 2020 profit before tax of N28.7 billion, representing a growth of 61.5 per cent year-on-year. From an efficiency standpoint, return on average equity increased from 12.4 per cent at year-end to 15.3 per cent at the end of March 2020, while the cost-to-income ratio decreased to 65.1 per cent, in line with our commitment on improving operational efficiency by leveraging technology”.
The current situation demonstrates the importance of the deployment of appropriate technology and effectively validates our recent investment in enhancing our capacity in technological innovation and digitisation of our products and services.
We are currently assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and will update the market as soon as we are able to give guidance for the rest of the year. As a Group, we are progressing with our business continuity plans and all hands are on deck to ensure the safety of our employees and to continue to serve our customers with minimal disruption.
We are united with our government, industry and the wider society in our resolve to flatten the curve of COVID-19 and limit the damage caused by the pandemic.” For the commercial banking segment, gross earnings stood at N151, up 15.6 per cent when compared with N130.5 billion achieved in same period of 2019.
Commenting on the results Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group said: “We are pleased with the performance of the commercial banking group in the first quarter of 2020, with gross earnings up 15.6 per cent and PBT up 54.8 per cent y-o-y respectively. We have also seen further improvements in our Non-Performing Loans and Cost-to-Income ratios and are now a stronger and more resilient institution, with a significantly enhanced risk management architecture.
As we commence the execution of the earlier phase of the new 2020 – 2022 strategic plan, we are all aware that we are living through unprecedented times. However, I am confident that we are well equipped to handle the headwinds. We have invested heavily in the last three years to establish our digital banking footprint and with a network of over 53,000 agents across Nigeria as well as over thirteen million customers actively transacting on our digital platforms (FirstMobile and USSD), we have built capacity to continue to offer gold standard services to our customers while safeguarding our staff through the pandemic.”
