Atlas Mara Limited, one of the largest owners of Union Bank of Nigeria is reporting one of its best first quarter results.
Net profit for the period rose to USD5 million. The largest for the company serious looking to grow its stock price after many quarters of missed earnings.
The company said $6.7 million for the comparable period in 2016. This profit represents the largest quarterly profit reported by the Company since inception.
Total income increased by 12.5% (17.5% on a constant currency (ccy) basis) year-on-year, driven mostly by an increase of 56.5% in net interest income (64.9% ccy), following a reduction in cost of funding with a commensurate increase in margins on loan assets.
Expenses declined by 13.0% year-on-year and by 10.6% on a constant currency basis. This is notwithstanding the full cost base of Finance Bank Zambia (FBZ) included in Q1 2017 whereas such cost base was not included in the comparable prior period (the acquisition completed on 30 June 2016). The decline of $7.5 million year-on-year demonstrates the commitment to deliver the targeted net cost savings of $20 million in the current year. The cost to income ratio at 85.6% of this first quarter of 2017 also compares favourably with the last quarter of 2016 92.1%.
An elated Bob Diamond, Chairman of the groul said “I am very pleased with the results we have delivered in the first quarter including a record quarterly profit for Atlas Mara. We are substantially ahead of last year, but more importantly we are very much on track to deliver on the commitments we made to the market with our 2016 full year results announcement in March. We remain excited about the future and are positioned to benefit from the long-term growth in sub-Saharan Africa”.
