Guaranty Trust Bank plc on Monday became the earliest bird among the banking counters to release its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2015, to the Nigerian and London stock exchanges.
The 2015 results show positive performance across all financial indices, reaffirming the bank’s position as one of the most profitable and well managed financial institutions in Nigeria.
The Group delivered a profit before tax of N120.7 billion, an increase of N4.3 billion or 3.7 percent over the N116.4 billion reported in December 2014, and gross earnings of N301.9 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent from the N278.5 billion recorded in the same period of 2014. In terms of value creation for its shareholders, the bank recorded pre-tax ROAE of 31 percent and ROAA of 5 percent, respectively.
The bank’s balance sheet remained strong with 7.2 percent growth in total assets, from N2.36 trillion in 2014 to N2.52 trillion in the year under review. Loans to customers grew by 7.5 percent to close at N1.37 trillion from N1.28 trillion in 2014.
Despite the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the Federal Government, customer deposits remained relatively stable with a marginal year-on-year decline of 0.49 percent from N1.62 trillion in 2014 to N1.61 trillion in 2015.
The bank continued to maintain a disciplined and prudent approach to loan growth in line with its Risk Management framework. The bank’s non-performing loans (NPL) ratio remained low at 3.21 percent, up slightly from 3.15 percent in the comparative period of 2014.
Against this backdrop of strong financial showing, the GTBank is proposing total-year dividend of N1.77k per share (inclusive of the 25kobo interim dividend paid at half year 2015).
“The proposed dividend is broadly in line with our expectation. These results are broadly in line with our expectations, and crucially, management’s guidance. Although the market will be relieved that the results did not disappoint (especially given the profit warnings from three banks in the last two months), we expect that attention will shift very quickly to management’s comments on its 2016 outlook.
Coming into 2016, one of the key concerns the market had was refinancing risks relating to GT Bank’s Eurobond due May 2015. We believe those concerns have now dissipated given the strong signal GTBank sent to the market with its early redemption offer,” according to Olubunmi Asaolu led team of analysts at FBNQuest in their first reaction to GTBank results yesterday.
Segun Agbaje, Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc while commenting on the financial results said that the Bank’s financial performance in 2015 is an indication that we have earned the loyalty of our customers and an attestation of the hard work and dedication of our staff, management and Board. The Group has delivered a respectable Profit Before Tax of N120.7billion despite an extremely challenging business environment in 2015.
He further stated that “As a Bank, we will continue to actively partner with our customers and grow our business in a sustainable manner that is not only driven by profit objective, but with an increased focus on empowering our customers with a view to growing Nigerian economy. Also, we remain committed to maximising shareholders’ value and delivering superior and sustainable returns whilst actively expanding our franchise in select, high growth African markets where we believe we have a competitive advantage.
The bank has continued to report the best financial ratios for a Financial Institution in the industry with a return on equity (ROE) of 31.0% and a cost to income ratio of 44.4% evidencing the efficient management of the banks’ assets.
Overall, the Bank has enshrined its position as a clear leader in the industry. In due recognition of the Bank’s leading role in Africa’s banking industry, owing to its bias for world class corporate governance standards and excellent service delivery and innovation, GTBank has been a recipient to numerous awards over the course of the year. They include Best Bank in Nigeria by Euromoney, 2015 Bank of the Year by African Investor and Best Banking Group Nigeria by World Finance.