By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s rescued lender, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (UBN) said on Wednesday its profit after tax (PAT) for the nine months period ended September 30, 2014 climbed up 6.6 percent (6.6%) to N8.1 billion from N7.57 billion recorded in the same period of 2013, the lender said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Profit before tax (PBT) also increased 22.05 percent to N8.3 billion from N6.8 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2013.
However, gross earnings declined 6.4 percent to N74.8 billion from N79.9 billion posted in the Q3 of 2013.
Emeka Emuwa, group managing director/chief executive officer (GMD/CEO) of the bank in a statement made available to InvestAdvocate said the bank’s third quarter activities were focused on continuing and consolidating the it’s transformation efforts to ensure they maintain strategic focus in key areas and deliver operating results according to plan.
‘’Building upon the transformation work already in progress over the past 18 months, we have hired a transformation director to institutionalise and lead the bank’s Transformation Management Office which coordinates, centralises and tracks transformation workgroups to ensure transformation achievements are embedded and delivered,’’ Emuwa said.
He affirmed that the bank continues to rebuild its retail business and have hired seniour product specialists to strengthen its retail offering to compete in today’s marketplace. ‘’The launch of our “Unionfacts” advertising campaign in September signals confidence in our enhanced retail offering, technology platforms and processes and our ability to deliver and meet customer needs. We will continue to invest in our people and platforms with a view to delivering innovation and superior service in the short to medium term,”he said.
On his part, Oyinkan Adewale, chief financial officer, commenting on lender’s financial performance in the quarter, said, Union Bank’s loan portfolio continues to perform well and the bank is also seeing good traction on the deposit side.
‘’The loan book grew by 21 percent in the period ended 30 September 2014 compared to 31st December 2013. Our deposit book also posted a modest gain of 2.2 percent. As we revamp our retail offering, we expect to make an aggressive push for low cost deposits in the fourth quarter. In compliance with Central Bank’s Regulation 3, the disposal of our non-banking subsidiaries continues to yield gains, with five subsidiaries profitably divested to date.
The Group’s PBT for the nine months ended 30 September 2014 represents a 21.6% growth when compared to same nine month period for 2013. Given significant investments in technology, systems and branch network optimisation critical to the bank’s transformation, we continue to be watchful of our cost ratios with a proactive cost management strategy. Overall, we expect the bank will continue its positive trajectory through the remainder of the year,”Union Bank’s CFO affirmed.
