Guaranty Trust Bank plc in its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017, has declared Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N200.2 billion, representing a growth of 21.3 percent over N165.1 billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2016.
The Bank both listed on the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges, indicated growth in its Gross earnings for the year by 1.1 percent to N419.2 billion from N414.6 billion reported in the December 2016; driven primarily by growth in interest income as well as e-payment revenues.
The Bank, thus, proposed a final dividend of N2.40k per unit of ordinary share held by shareholders in addition to interim dividend of 30k per unit of ordinary share bringing total dividend for 2017 financial year to N2.70 per unit of the ordinary share.
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.
The Bank’s loan book dipped by 8.9 percent from N1.590 trillion recorded as at December 2016 to N1.449 trillion in December 2017, while customer deposits increased by 3.8 percent to N2.062 trillion from N1.986 trillion in December 2016.
Further analysis showed that the Bank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 3.9 percent growth in Total Assets and Contingents as the Bank closed the year ended December 2017 with Total Assets and Contingents of N3.845 trillion and Shareholders’ Funds of N625.2 billion.
In terms of Assets quality, NPL ratio increased to 7.7 percent in December 2017 from 3.7 percent in December 2016 largely as a result of classification of a single exposure within the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry.
Overall, asset quality remains stable with adequate coverage of 119.6 percent, while Capital remains strong with CAR of 25.7 percent.
On the backdrop of this result, Return on Equity (ROAE) and Return on Assets (ROAA) closed at 35.4 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.
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 percent and cost to income ratio of 38.1 percent evidencing the efficient management of assets and operational efficiency.
