According to the FBN Holdings’ result sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Tuesday in Lagos, gross earnings grew year-on-year by 7.0 per cent to N395.9 billion.
Its net interest income rose by a marginal 1.5 per cent to N230.1 billion (December 2012: N226.6 billion) while asset yields remained relatively flat at 11.3 per cent compared with 11.4 per cent recorded in 2012. There was a rise in funding costs to 3.3 per cent from 2.9 per cent in 2012.
In addition, strong loan growth of 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter in 2013 fourth quarter, not fully reflected in interest income, resulted in net interest margins of 8.0 per cent from 8.8 per cent in 2012.
FBN Holdings’ profit after tax declined by 8.0 per cent year-to-year to N70.6 billion from N76.8 billion. The above performance translated into annualised after tax return on average equity of 15.5 per cent as against 19 per cent in December 2012.
Its earnings per share dropped to N2.16 kobo at the end of 2013 financial year from N2.37 kobo recorded in 2012.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer, FBN Holdings, Bello Maccido, said, “the prevalent theme over the course of 2013 was one of moderate economic growth within the context of significant regulatory changes in our sector. Our financial performance was impacted largely due to revised banking charges, while the increase in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) impacted our overall performance as reflected through First Bank, our flagship subsidiary.
He further stated that, “the scale and scope of our business, brand portfolio, geographic reach coupled with the diversity of our business portfolio creates highly-valuable scale benefits that are difficult to replicate. The diversification and strong natural synergies, in turn, reduce risk and improve the quality of our earnings.
“With the recent acquisition of ICB banks across four West African countries, the acquisition of Oasis Insurance and our ongoing effort to strengthen the investment banking and asset management business through the acquisition of a merchant banking license, the group is on track to deliver on its promises to its various stakeholders.
“As we look ahead to the future, we will continue to enhance the contribution of the non-bank subsidiaries to the group through deepening market penetration in each of our business lines, investments in other growing sub-sectors of financial services and driving cross-sell and synergy realisation across the group and consolidating our position as the leading commercial banking franchise in sub-Saharan Africa.”
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