United Bank for Africa (UBA) has set a strategic plan to consolidate all its holdings to enable it become the biggest bank in Africa. The bank is currently operating in 18 countries across the continent.
Presenting the bank’s financial score card at Facts behind the Figures at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in Lagos on Friday, the Chief Finance Officer, UBA, Mr. Ugo Nwaghodo said that in the West African zone, the bank’s subsidiaries recorded growth in their profits.
In Ghana and Liberia, he said that the bank’s subsidiaries recorded profit before tax of N41million and N1.209 billion respectively, while Sierra Leone and Guinea posted N15million and N160million profits, bringing the total to N1.425 billion.
He said that in East and Central African regions the subsidiaries posted negative result.
Nwaghodo, however, said that the bank has confident that before the end of 2012 financial year all the key losses brand would have been turned around. The bank for the financial year ended December 31, 2011 recorded gross earnings of N184.83 billion, representing an increase of 4.08 percent when compared with N177.57 billion recorded in the preceding year.
The bank on the other hand posted loss before tax of 28.49 billion within the period under review compared with profit before tax of N 3.22 billion achieved in the previous year.
The result of the bank released by the NSE showed that it also recorded loss after tax of N9.647 billion against profit after tax of N598 million posted in the previous year.
The fixed assets went down to N52.852 billion at the end of December 2011 from N59.156 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2010 while the net assets declined to
N170.033 billion against N179.426 billion it made in the comparable period of 2010.
The bank had in February issued a profit warning, and said the loss was driven principally by write offs done as a result of huge non performing loans.
The management of the bank said that it does not anticipate further similar write offs in 2012 and following these actions, affirms that the Group’s balance sheet and capital were in a robust position, providing a solid foundation for future growth path.
As a result of the action, the Bank said that it now had a very clean, strong and sound balance sheet.
The bank’s NPL ratio is currently at 3.9 per cent for the entire Group and 3.2 per cent for the bank, capital adequacy ratio is 18 per cent and Liquidity Ratio of 60 per cent.
