UBA Beats All Odds To Grow Revenue By 93% To N1.1trn

Nigeria’s first-tier bank, United Bank for Africa Plc has seen revenue grow by almost double from N557.2bn to N1.07tn despite the setbacks that financial institutions in Africa’s biggest economy faced in 2023 on account of the naira redesign and exchange rate depreciation.

The company’s pre-tax profit beat expectations after the lender grew it from N200.87bn in 2022 to N757.68bn which represents a 277.18 per cent growth.

The company, however, took pre-tax charges of N149.98bn, up from the N30.6bn paid in the year 2022.

UBA’s full-year financial statement for 2023 analysed by THE WHISTLER reveals a net profit grew from N170.27bn in 2022 to N607.7bn by the end of the year.

Net trading and foreign exchange gain of the bank also rose from N72.15bn to N6569.2bn, helping the bank to beat the expected shock of the naira devaluation suffered after the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced a managed float.

The bank also grew its assets base by over 90 per cent from N10.85tn in 2022 to N20.65tn on account of growth in cash and bank balances which rose from N2.6tn to N6.1tn in 2023,

The lender’s liability also grew from N9.9tn to N18.6tn by year-end.

However, the bank was also faced with key audit matters which were N241bn expected credit loss on loans and advances to customers and hyperinflation in Ghana and Sierra Leone.

“The gross balance of loans and advances to customers as at 31 December 2023 was N3.45tn for the Bank and N5.47tn for the Group. The associated allowance for credit loss was N130bn for the Bank and N241bn for the Group.

“Ghana and Sierra Leone have been identified as hyperinflationary economies from 31 December 2023,” the UBA’s auditor, Ernst & Young revealed.

Despite the setbacks, the books show that the lender sits on cash and cash equivalent worth N3.23tn, up by 156 per cent from the N1.26trn held in 2022.