Despite the slowdown in the financial services space, Nigeria’s 5 biggest banks by capitalization delivered an improved performance for the first half ended June 2019.
Here is a look at how the banks performed as a group, and the outliers in each category.
Gross Earnings
The 5 lenders FBN Holdings, UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, and Zenith Bank made a total of N1.46 trillion as gross earnings for the half year ended June 2019. This marks an 8.14% increase from the N1.35 trillion earned in the corresponding period of 2018.
Zenith leads in terms of gross
Zenith Bank led in terms of gross earnings, as the bank had N331 billion as gross earnings for the half year ended June 2019.
Access Bank follows closely behind; it made N324 billion as gross earnings in the first half of 2019. The two banks thus accounted for 44.7% of earnings made by the 5 banks.
Access also had the highest increase in gross earnings largely due to effects of its merger with Diamond Bank Plc. Access Bank made N253 billion as gross earnings in the first half of 2018. Year on year, this amounts to a 28% increase.
Profit before tax
Profit before tax for the five banks increased from N358 billion in 2018 to N410 billion in 2019, a 14.5% increase year on year.
GT Bank takes the lead profit-wise
Guaranty Trust Bank led the way in terms of profit before tax, as the bank had a profit before tax of N115 billion. Zenith Bank follows next with a profit before tax of N111 billion. The two banks thus accounted for 55.1% of the profit made by the 5 banks.
Access Bank again had the highest year on year increase. The bank’s profit before tax jumped from N45.8 billion in 2018 to N74.1 billion in 2019, up 61.7% year on year.
UBA was next with a 20.8% increase year on year. Profit before tax rose from N58.1 billion in 2018 to N70.2 billion in 2019.
Profit after tax
Compared to the larger industry, the tier one banks, have maintained the lion share of profit. The FUGAZ banks accounted for 70.3% of the N477 billion made by all listed banks in the country.Profit after tax by the 5 banks rose from N296.6 billion in 2018 to N336.3 billion in 2019. This amounts to a 13.3% increase year on year.
Guaranty Trust leads in terms of profit
Guaranty Trust Bank, also took the lead in terms of profit after tax, as the bank made N99.1 billion as profit after tax in the first half of 2019. Zenith Bank follows closely with a profit after tax of N88.8 billion.The two banks thus accounted for 55.8% of the profit made by the 5 lenders.
Access Bank takes the third place with a N63 billion profit after tax. UBA is fourth with a profit after tax of N46.7 billion. FBN Holdings takes the last spot with a N31.7 billion profit after tax.
How have the shares fared year to date?
In terms of capital appreciation, Access Bank is the best performing, as the stock is up 1.47% year to date. While the appreciation is marginal, the stock has outperformed the broader market index which is down 13.63%.
FBN Holdings is down 45.28% year to date, and is the worst performing stock among the tier one banks. Guaranty Trust Bank is down 24.09% year to date. UBA is down 20.78% year to date, while Zenith Bank is down 21.91% year to date.
