Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc (ETI) has reported N6.6 trillion in total assets in its unaudited result and accounts for half year (H1) ended June 30, 2018 as against N6.46 trillion reported in prior half year.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The marginal increase of about two per cent in total assets was driven by 12 per cent increase in deposits from customers that hit N4.72 trillion as at June 30, 2018 from N4.2 trillion as at June 30, 2017.
However, the group Loans and advances to customers thus dropped by eight per cent to N2.68 trillion in H1 2018 from N2.89 trillion reported in H1 2017.
With growth in total assets, ETI in its results to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday said, profit before tax rose by 41 per cent to N65 billion in H1 2018 from N46.2 billion in H1 2017.
Profit after tax for the period rose by 37 per cent to N51.6 billion in H1 2018 from N37.7 billion reported in H1 2017.
In a statement, the Group CEO, ETI, Mr. Ade Ayeyemi, said, “These results show the considerable achievements we are already making in the execution phase of our strategy.
For the first half of the year the firm generated profit before tax of $213 million, an increase of 41per cent from the same period a year ago, and a return on tangible total shareholders’ equity of 20.9per cent.
“We were encouraged with the levels of client activity we saw in most of our businesses and precisely in our deposit-generating franchise. As a result, customer deposits grew 12per cent in constant currency, improving the firm’s liquidity and ability to lend to customers.
“The enormous efforts we have made to improve asset quality is also paying off. We have started to see improvements in our credit portfolio, resulting in lower impairment losses for the period.
“Finally, on 14 June, we announced intended meetings with global fixed-income investors, following which, if market conditions permitted, would result in a 5-year USD denominated senior unsecured bond offering.
“Despite positive investor meetings, market conditions were less benign, driven by the confluence of interest rate rises in the US and sell-off in emerging market debt. As a result we have held off on the offering until such a period when conditions will improve.”