FBN Holdings Grows half year profitability by 45% to N66bn

FBN Holdings Plc, the parent company of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has recorded a 45 per cent growth in its profitability to N66 billion for the six months operating period ended June 30th (H1’22) from N45.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2021 (H1’21).

As a result, profit after tax grew by 48.6 per cent to N56.5 billion in H1’22 from N38.1 billion in H1’21.

The company disclosed this in its unaudited results for the half year ended June 30, 2022, which showed that the huge growth in profitability was driven by 22.4 per cent growth in gross earnings which rose to N359.2 billion in H1’22 from N293.4 billion in H1’21.

Also contributing to the growth in profitability was an 18 per cent fall in impairment charges for losses to bad loans, which fell to N21.7 billion in H1’22 from N26.7 billion in H1’21.

Commenting, Nnamdi Okonkwo, the Group Managing Director, FBN Holdings Plc, said: “FBNHoldings continues to demonstrate resilient performance despite the challenging operating environment with an impressive improvement in revenue and profitability. For the half year 2022, gross earnings and profit before tax grew by 22% y-o-y and 45% y-o-y to N359.2 billion and N65.7 billion respectively. Furthermore, we continue to see good progress across our performance metrics, which remain in line with our focus on driving sustainable growth.

The Group remains committed in its transformation drive, which has resulted in stronger balance sheet and better asset quality with non-performing loans closing at 5.4% at H1 2022. Similarly, risk management capability remains robust across the Group supporting the drive for enhanced earnings for sustainable capital accretion. During the period, cost to income ratio remained flat y-o-y despite the inflationary and currency pressure, as we continue to focus on optimising overall efficiency.

Our strategic intent remains unchanged in optimising opportunities that drive growth in revenue, profitability, capital accretion and overall operational efficiency that delivers sustainable value to our stakeholders.”

Also commenting on the results, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited (Commercial Banking Group) stated that: “Amidst a challenging operating and dynamic regulatory environment in H1 2022, the Commercial Banking Group remained focused on executing key initiatives to position the Group for improved profitability in FY2022. Our half-year results further reinforced our drive towards our ‘Quantum Profitability Leap’ agenda. Our gross earnings are up 22.6% y-o-y to ¦ 338.5 billion and net interest income up 49.3 % y-o-y to ¦ 152.9 billion respectively.

“On the back of the impressive growth recorded in our top line, our profit before tax recorded a strong growth of 40.0% y-o-y to ¦ 60.0 billion, whilst profit after tax also grew by 42.3% y-o-y to ¦ 53.3 billion as the Bank continues to reap the dividends of the successful restructuring of our balance sheet and revamping of our risk management architecture. We continue to record progress in driving down our non-performing loan ratio which now stands at 5.4% at the end of H1 and we are on target to bring it within the regulatory limit of 5% by end of FY2022.

“As we go into the second half of 2022, I am confident that the Commercial Banking Group will sustain the current momentum of generating impressive returns from the quality risk assets portfolio already created, whilst optimising its balance sheet given changing macro-economic conditions. Furthermore, we will continue to strengthen our dominant digital banking capabilities in providing best-in-class services to all segments of our customers across all our footprints in sub-Sahara Africa and beyond.”