UBA Capital Plc has reported a profit before tax of N617bn for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.

The company’s profit, which stood at N198bn in March 2012, rose by N419bn or 211 per cent to N617bn in the period under consideration.

Its result released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange showed that its gross earnings rose to N890.3bn in the same period.

A further look at the result showed that fees and commission income went up to N302m, representing an increase of 646 per cent compared to N40.5m for the previous year.

Its investment income of N374m was up by 466 per cent from N66.1m the year before, while the operating expenses closed the period at N273m, up from N104.1m the preceding year.

According to the results, total assets stood at N76.5bn up by 560 per cent from N11.6bn in December 2012, while shareholders fund rose to N6.9bn up by 147 per cent from N2.8bn last December.

Speaking on the result, the Group Chief Executive Officer, UBA Capital, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa said, “I am pleased to present this set of strong growth numbers, which reinforce our commitment and potential to deliver competitive returns to our shareholders. Notably, the group’s performance reflects the improved service delivery across all our strategic business units.

“Our trustee business remains a dominant player in its niche, with continuous investment in infrastructure and people to ensure the best experience for our clients.

“Also, our investment banking business is growing fast as we position the business to take advantage of opportunities in the power, oil and gas and infrastructure sectors of the economy.”

He added that the company would carefully invest in its people and technology to drive the security trading business, especially as investor confidence improves.

He said, “As we refocus our asset and wealth management business, we see significant room for growth in our mutual funds and overall assets under management.

 ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…“We will not relent on our dedicated focus on staff training and development, as we believe we are in a knowledge business. Interestingly, our work environment is increasingly attracting new talents, thus enriching our pool of knowledge and competitive advantage in the market.”

Olaoluwa added that the company would build on its innovative delivery of value to clients and sustain the impressive performance throughout the year.

The shares of UBA Capital were listed earlier this year at N1.16 per share.

The listing followed the approval by the Quotations Committee of the Management of the Exchange of the Scheme of Arrangement for the restructuring of UBA.

The company said that the shareholders of the company would derive significant benefits from having the separate businesses focus firmly on their core expertise.

Source: Punch (by Udeme Ekwere)