Nigeria’s second-biggest lender, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its audited financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2024, showing a 16 per cent drop in net profit.

The audited report showed that profit before tax (PBT) dropped to N402 billion from N403 billion recorded in June 2023. Also, profit after tax (PAT) declined from N378 billion in June last year to N316 billion in the year under review.

The bank, however posted a 39.6 per cent increase in its gross earnings, which rose from N981.77 billion in the prior year 2023 to N1.371 trillion in June 2024.

The lender’s interest income also rose by 134.3 per cent to N1.003 trillion up from N428.2 billion recorded in June last year. Total assets also grew by 37.2 per cent to N28.3trillion from N20.6 trillion in December 2023. Customer deposits, also leapt by 33.7 per cent in the period under review to close at N23.2 trillion compared with N17.3 trillion recorded at the end of 2023.

The report also showed that the bank’s shareholders funds increased by 47 per cent from N2.03 trillion in December 2023, to N2.99 trillion.

Despite the drop in profit, the Board of Directors of the bank has declared an interim dividend of N2.00 per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders, representing 300% increase compared to the N0.50 declared in the prior year.

Commenting on the results, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba said: “UBA Group has continued to deliver strong double-digit growth in high quality and sustainable banking revenue streams, driven by a focused growth in balance sheet, transaction and digital banking businesses across geographies in line with our strategic goals.

He added: “The Group’s performance has been buoyed by consistent strong growth in all core and sustainable banking income lines. Our intermediation business showed strong growth with net interest income expanding by 143% YoY to N675billion. 

“As the Group intensifies its customer acquisition drive, we are making significant investments in technology, data analytics, product research and innovation to enhance our value proposition and customer experience.”