By Gbenga Agbana

Thursday, 4 Nov 2010

From an operational loss of N231.60bn in the third quarter ended September 30 2010, Afribank Nigeria Plc has declared a profit before tax of N8.13bn for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010.

A statement from the bank on Wednesday, said it had been able to sustain its growth tempo with a steady increase in profit after tax of N1.99bn in the first quarter and N5.5bn in the second quarter.

The bank also grew its assets to N315.89bn in the third quarter, from N277.08bn in the corresponding period of last year, representing a 12.3 per cent increase.

The cost-efficiency structure of the bank also yielded significant results, while its operating expenses fell from N30.01bn to N20.19bn in the review period.

Similarly, interest expense paid also reduced from N53.69bn as at September 2009, to N35.64bn in September 2010, according to the statement.

The bank‘s Group Managing Director, Mr. Nebolisa Arah, explained that ”the consistent improvement of the bank‘s operations and profitability is a result of the implementation of several strategic initiatives by the management and the cooperation of all stakeholders.

Arah added that he was optimistic that the growth strategy and implementation of sound corporate governance practices in the bank would lead to greater performance in the current financial year.

Acording to him, ”Some of the market-centred initiatives which the bank implemented, and which have continued to yield positive results are the review of operations and business processes, restructuring of the bank‘s business into strategic business units, customer service, branch transformation, technology upgrade, e-channels and human resource optimisation.

”The bank has also consistently recorded market breakthrough in the areas winning big accounts and doing new businesses with private and public institutions.”

Source: Punch