FBN Holdings Plc has announced its unaudited results for the nine months ended 30 September 2019, with profit after tax of N51.8 billion, up 15.3% when compared with a similar result period September 2018 of N44.9 billion. The group, however, recorded a drop on gross earnings of N439.9 billion, flat year-on-year of September 2018 of N441.5 billion.
The net-interest income of N211.4 billion also down by 4.6% y-o-y when compared with Sep 2018 of N221.5 billion while the non-interest income of N98.8 billion, up 6.0% y-o-y when compared to that of September 2018 N93.2 billion. Commenting on the results, UK Eke, the Group Managing Director said: “Our performance in the third quarter reflects the growth trajectory over the first nine months of the year, with significant strides made in transforming the Group’s asset quality and diversifying our revenue streams across the board.
During the third quarter, our NPL declined further to 12.6% as we approach the end of the curve in the resolution of our legacy portfolio and are confident of further reducing this to under 10% by the end of the current financial year. Critically, we have continued to focus on enhancing our risk framework processes enabling an improvement in the quality of our loan book. Concurrently, we have also continued our drive towards ensuing long-term operational efficiency, resulting in a one-off cost increase pushing our CIR for the first nine months. In terms of our revenue generation, we have delivered further increases in our non-interest income, on the back of growth in electronic banking fees as well as improvements in transaction-led income.
Also speaking, on the results Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank and Subsidiaries said: “The Commercial Banking Group further improved its performance delivering an 18.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in profit before tax. In line with our commitment, we have continued to improve our asset quality while further enhancing the group risk management and controls.”
