UBA’s gross earning hits N374b

The United Bank for Africa Plc has announced its unaudited 2018 Third Quarter Financial Results with impressive growth in Gross Earnings of N374.8 billion (about $1.228 billion).
The performance represents a 12.3 per cent increase when compared to N333.9 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
According to the bank’s report filed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) UBA’s net operations improved 1.7 per cent year-on-year to N227.7 billion, when compared to N224 billion achieved in the similar period of 2017.
UBA’s operating expenses increased by 2.3 per cent to N149.1 billion, compared to N145 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
The bank posted a Profit Before Tax of N79.1 billion whilst Profit After Tax stood at N61.7 billion.
Local media reports noted that the profit performance puts the bank’s annualized return on average equity at 16 per cent and 20 per cent at pre-tax and post-tax profit level respectively.
The report added that the bank continues to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with total assets of N4.51 trillion, an impressive 10.8 per cent year-to-date rise over the N4.07 trillion total asset recorded as at December 2017.
The report stated that the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, said: “We achieved a number of strategic imperatives during the quarter and committed more investments in the future of the business – building a solid foundation for a sustainable and superior return to our shareholders.”
Uzoka said that he was pleased that the Bank’s Virtual Banking Chatbot, Leo, which debuted on Facebook earlier in the year, was successfully launched on WhatsApp during the quarter.
“This new channel offering, which enables our customers to fulfil their banking transactions through simple chat commands, is another premier initiative in our suite. The early pay-offs are quite compelling – recent customer acquisitions and broader transaction volume growth are exciting leading indicators that reinforce our confidence in these novel channels,” he said.
The pan African financial institution has presence in about 20 African countries.  ($1=N305)