July 30, 2018
By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s lender, Diamond Bank Plc on Monday announced its pretax profit for the period ended June 30, 2018 declined 69.3 percent to N2.92 billion from N9.51 billion posted a year ago.
Similarly, the bank said total comprehensive income for the year also dipped 83.7 percent to N650.98 million from N4.0 billion in the same period of 2017.
However, gross earnings grew marginally 0.6 percent to N98.50 billion in the half-year (H1) period of 2018 from N97.89 billion posted the corresponding period of 2017
Commenting on the result, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Uzoma Dozie said: “At a macro level the Nigerian economy continued to record improvements because of stable, higher than anticipated oil prices. We have witnessed 15 months of expansion reflected in monthly PMI data, but investor sentiment has remained mixed caused in part by the election season factor. We have capitalised on the positive macro environment to sustain interest income in the short run with positive prospects for growth and have made progress in growing non-interest income, parts of an emailed statement from the bank said.
“Importantly, we have continued to build awareness of Diamond Bank in the wider financial ecosystem to develop new frontiers in retail banking. Amongst this activity were the Beauty Souk and TechFest events, targeted at entrepreneurs and emerging businesses in the fashion and technology sectors respectively. Our partnership with Lagos Business School’s Enterprise Development Center to support young entrepreneurs continued with the seventh season of the Building Entrepreneurs Today program.
In addition to retail banking, we are investing more resources in our mid-market business banking services to seize the opportunities emerging in that segment. In the second half of 2018, these investments will lead to improved profitability overall.
Despite a tough six months being reported, the outlook for 2018 remains bright for the Bank as we continue to focus on a return to strong profitability and improvement in other KPIs,” Dozie added.
