GTB Announces N200bn Profit Before Tax for 2017

• GTB Announces N200bn Profit Before Tax for 2017

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc sustained growth momentum in 2017 despite headwinds that clipped other lenders, the audited financial report filed with the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges showed.

The bank announced a profit before tax of N200.2 billion for 2017, up from the N165.1 billion reported in the corresponding year of 2016.

A break down of the report showed the lender recorded positive performance across all financial indices as gross earnings rose from N414.6 billion reported in December 2016 to N419.2 billion in 2017, primarily driven by interest income as well as revenue generated from e-payment services.

Also, customer deposits surged by 3.8 percent to N2.062 trillion in the year, up from N1.986 trillion recorded in 2016, while loan book fell 8.9 percent from N1.59 trillion in December 2016 to N1.449 trillion in December 2017.

The bank’s balance sheet remained strong with its total assets growing by 3.9 percent to N3.845 trillion and shareholders’ funds stood at 625.2 billion.

In terms of assets quality, non-performing loans increased from 3.7 percent in 2016 to 7.7 percent in 2017, largely due to the classification of a single exposure within the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

However, the lender expects the non-performing loans to moderate to 4.6 percent, below the regulatory threshold. Overall, asset quality remained stable with adequate coverage of 119.6 percent, while capital remains strong with Capital Adequacy Ratio of 25.7 percent.

Speaking on the report, the Managing Director/Chief Executive officer, Mr. Segun Agbaje said the “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.”