Ecobank Group declares N104.5bn PAT in 9 months

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has announced a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N104.51billiion, in its audited nine months ended September 30, 2021, representing an increase of 916 per cent, compared to N10.28billion reported in prior nine months of 2020.

The financial institution results filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), also, grew its Profit Before Tax (PBT) to N143.7 billion for the period under review, an increase of 316 per cent from N34.5billion reported in nine months ended September 30, 2020.

The results show that the bank triple-digit growth has resulted in earnings per share of over N3.01 kobo during the period under review.

Growth in gross earnings, net investment income, other operating income and decline in operating expenses were major financial parameters that contributed to the Group’s significant increase in profits amid macro economy challenges where it has branches.

Gross Earnings for the period grew by 12 per cent to N686.8billion from N614.5billlion reported in 2020. As net investment income rose by 523 per cent to N5.56billion from loss of N1.3billion in 2020; Other operating income closed at N11.59billion from N3.3billion reported in 2020. The group’s total assets grew by five per cent to N10.9trillion as at September 30, 2021 from N10.38trillion in full year ended December 31, 2020.

In his comment, Group CEO, Ecobank, Ade Ayeyemi said: “We reported strong results, reflecting the continued diligence of Ecobankers in putting our customers first and ensuring that we meet their respective needs.

“For the nine months period up to September 2021, we earned $352 million in pre-tax profit, a 41per cent increase compared to the prior year and revenues of $1.3 billion, a four per cent growth. Hence return on tangible equity increased to 17.9per cent, and we grew the per-share value of our shareholders’ equity by 11per cent to 5.52 US dollar cents.

“These results also demonstrate the hard work invested in driving efficiency in all our businesses in line with our deliberate focus on driving down our cost-to serve, sustain improvement in the quality of our credit portfolio, and strengthen liquidity and capital buffers.”

“As a result, our cost-to-income ratio has been declining consistently quarter on quarter, currently 58.3 per cent. In addition, the stock of nonperforming loans as a percentage of loans outstanding is now at 6.9 per cent compared to 9.9per cent a year ago. We have boosted the firm’s liquidity profile, thanks to growing customer deposits fueled by an acceleration in digital channel adoption, partnerships with Fintechs, Telcos, and businesses in the Payments Ecosystem,” Ayeyemi added.