One of the foremost institutional Banks in Africa, Guaranty Trust Bank plc has released its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017 to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges.
A review of the results shows positive performance across all financial indices, reaffirming the Bank’s position as one of the most profitable and well managed financial institutions in Nigeria. Gross earnings for the year grew by 1.1% to ₦419.2billion from ₦414.6billion reported in the December 2016; driven primarily by growth in interest income as well as e-payment revenues. Profit before tax stood at ₦200.2billion, representing a growth of 21.3% over ₦165.1billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2016. The Bank’s loan book dipped by 8.9% from ₦1.590trillion recorded as at December 2016 to ₦1.449trillion in December 2017 while customer deposits increased by 3.8% to ₦2.062trillion from ₦1.986trillion in December 2016.
The Bank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 3.9% growth in Total Assets and Contingents as the Bank closed the year ended December 2017 with Total Assets and Contingents of ₦3.845trillion and Shareholders’ Funds of ₦625.2Billion. In terms of Assets quality, NPL ratio increased to 7.7% in December 2017 from 3.7% in December 2016 largely as a result of classification of a single exposure within the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry. However, non-performing loans would moderate to 4.6%, which is below regulatory threshold, if we exclude this name from NPL ratio computation. Overall, asset quality remains stable with adequate coverage of 119.6%, while Capital remains strong with CAR of 25.7%. On the backdrop of this result, Return on Equity (ROAE) and Return on Assets (ROAA) closed at 35.4% and 6.2% respectively. The Bank is proposing a final dividend of 240k per unit of ordinary shareheld by shareholders in addition to interim dividend of 30k per unit of ordinary share bringing total dividend for 2017 financial year to ₦2.70 per unit of ordinary share.
Commenting on the financial results, the Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje, said; “2017 was a pivotal year for the bank. We delivered a strong result in a challenging environment; achieving record growth in earnings, carefully managing cost margins and leveraging our digital-first customer-centric strategy to deliver world-class services that are simple, cheap and easily accessible.”
He further stated that “The result demonstrates the fundamental strength of our franchise as well as the progress we are making in transforming our organization into a platform on which our customers could build their businesses, connect with their consumers and access all the resources that they need to make their lives better.”
GTBank has continued to report the best financial ratios for a Financial Institution in the industry as revealed by its return on equity (ROE) of 35.4% and cost to income ratio of 38.1% evidencing the efficient management of assets and operational efficiency. Overall, the Bank has enshrined its position as a clear leader in the industry. In recognition of its innovation and hard work, the Bank received over 20 international awards in 2017.
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