Shareholders of Access Bank Plc, have started reaping the gains barely one year of its post-merger with erstwhile Diamond Bank Plc, which has made the Bank to be the largest in the country by total assets as well as largest in Africa by customer base.
The stellar financial performance of the Bank in just one year post- merger for the financial year ended December 31, 2019 is a signal of the gains of the synergy towards achieving its five- year strategic objectives.
Specifically, Access Bank in the full year of 2019, recorded significant growth in virtually all performance indicators. For instance, the Bank grew its Profit After Tax (PAT) by 2.7 percent to N97.509 billion, up from N94.981 billion and paid a final dividend of 40 kobo to bring the total dividend to 65 kobo per share.
The Group delivered a 26 percent increase in gross earnings of N666.8billion from N528.7billion in 2018, comprising interest in-come growth of 41 percent from previous levels to N155.9billion despite declining interest rate environment.
The effects of an enlarged loan book contributed significantly to the interest income growth of N155.9billion (+41 percent Year on Year, YoY ), leading to strong bottom-line figures. The net effect on operating income resulted in strong profit before tax (PBT) of N115.4billion as against N103.2billion in 2018.
Even in the just concluded first quarter performance of 2020, Q1’20, the Bank showed its resilience in spite of the coronavirus , COVID-19 pandemic effect as it posted good result. Just as the shareholders of the Bank expected, the first quarter, Q1’20 results to be favourable, Access Bank ended March 31, 2020 with a brighter future. The gross earnings of the Bank rose to N211.12 billion in Q1’ 20, up from N160.12 billion in the corresponding Q1’19. Profit Before tax (PBT) and Profit After Tax, PAT stood at N46.29 billion and N41.14 billion in that order. The Bank gave out more loans as at the end of Q1,20 which stood at N3.14 trillion, compared with N3.06 trillion at the end December 31, 2019. Customer deposits rose by 4.7 percent to N4.45 trillion from N4.25 trillion in full year 2019, while total assets expanded to N7.28 trillion from N7.14 trillion in full year 2019.
Meanwhile, when Access Bank held its 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos recently, the shareholders were full of praise to the Board, Management and its staff.
The AGM was held by proxy, following the outbreak of the COVID-19, which necessitated social distancing protocol to avoid the spread of the pandemic.
