GTBank Grows PBT to N57bn in Q1

• GTBank Grows PBT to N57bn in Q1

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc continues its positive run in the first quarter of 2019 despite headwinds.

The lender, in its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, grew its profit before tax by 8.3 per cent to N57 billion, up from N52.6 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2018.

While profit after tax rose from N44.7 billion filed in the first quarter of 2018 to N49.3 billion during the same period of 2019.

According to the lender, subsidiaries contributed 15.3 per cent to profit before tax, again higher than the 11.3 per cent achieved in March 2018.

The bank’s interest income, however, declined by 7.8 per cent from the N80.8 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2018 to N74.5 billion in the first quarter of 2019.

The bank attributed the decline to 10.1 per cent reduction in interest income on loans and advances and 10.8 per cent drop in interest income on fixed income securities.

GTBank grew its non-interest income by 27.1 per cent from N28.2 billion to N35.8 billion as a result of the 21.9 per cent growth recorded in fee and commission income.

A break down of the bank’s balance sheet showed its total assets grew by 8.2 per cent to N3.556 trillion, net loans and advances increased from N1.26 trillion in 2018 to N1.282 trillion in 2019 while deposits from customers grew by six per cent from N2.27 trillion in 2018 to N2.41 trillion in 2019.

Mr Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, GTB, said, “The structure of the balance sheet continued to give us the cutting edge needed to deliver strong results in a challenging environment, achieving impressive showing 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.

“The result demonstrates the fundamental strength of our franchise as well as the progress we are making in transforming our organisation into a platform on which our customers can build their businesses, connect with their consumers and access all the resources that they need to make their financial lives better.”

The bank has proposed a final dividend of N2.45 per unit ordinary share held by shareholders, in addition to an interim dividend of 30k, which would bring the total dividend payable to N2.75.