Covid-19 Pushes UBA’s Profit Down To N44.4bn

The outbreak of Covid-19 has plunged the profit of United Bank for Africa Plc down to N44.4bn during the half year of 2020.

The bank had realised N46.7bn in profit after tax during the same period of 2019, representing a drop by 4.9 per cent in the six months period ending June 2020.

UBA Plc during the period under review engaged in the business of banking and caters for the banking needs of Institutions, Corporate, Commercial and Consumer customer segments, providing trade services, remittance and treasury management among others.

The plunge follows the impact of the pandemic on the country’s economy.

The bank recorded a decrease in tax charged during the first half operations to N12.6bn from N13.5bn which it was last year.

The lender noted that its asset grew to N6.77bn from N5.6bn recorded in the first six months of 2019.

According to the bank, liability also rose to N6.1bn from N5bn recorded in June 2019.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had injected funds as palliatives to households and businesses, a measure to curb the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.

Deposit Money Banks are participating institutions in the disbursement of the palliatives.

The pan African bank noted that loans to individuals rose to N123bn in the first half of this year, from N105bn loans and overdraft issued in 2019.

A breakdown reveals that term loan amounted to N98.3bn, while overdraft was N24.7bn.

Corporate loans and advances amounted to N2.1trn, up by N109.8bn from N1.95bn in the first half of last year.

Analysis of the loan, showed that overdrafts to businesses was N404.7bn, term loan N1.65bn, while others amounted to N4bn during the period.