Chika Amanze-Nwachuku
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc on Wednesday released its audited financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2020 to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The highlights of the tier 1 lender’s financial performance in the period under review, showed that profit for the period was ₦94.271billion, representing a decrease of 4.9per cent from N99.133billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019.
Profit before tax was ₦109.7billion, down 5.2per cent, from ₦115.8billion in June 2019.
However, the Bank’s loan book grew by 8.1% from ₦1.502trillion recorded as at December 2019 to ₦1.624trillion in June 2020. Similarly, customer deposits increased by 18.5% to ₦3.001trillion from ₦2.533trillion in December 2019.
The Bank’s total assets as of June 2020, was put at ₦4.511trillion while shareholders’ funds was ₦720.9billion.
The Directors of the bank have however proposed the payment of an interim dividend of 30 Kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo each for period ended June 30, 2020.
Commenting on the financial results, the Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Segun Agbaje, said: “These are undoubtedly tough and trying times for people, businesses and economies the world over. Our financial performance in the first half of the year reflects the quality of our past decisions which have broadened our earnings and strategically positioned us to thrive, thus far, through the current global health and economic crises.
He added: “Underpinning this financial performance is our commitment to being there for our customers and the communities we serve, and over the past six months we have lent the full weight of our franchise to safeguarding lives and livelihoods of our staff and customers by leading from the front in the fight to curtail the Covid-19 outbreak and offering grace periods on loans to our small business customers.”
Agbaje further stated: “Going forward, our focus is not just to survive this pandemic, but to thrive beyond it. That is why we are going ahead with our plans to reimagine how we create value for all our stakeholders. We know that making financial services work for customers goes beyond banking, and in line with our long-term strategy, we will seek to create and drive innovative financial solutions that go beyond banking.”