The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced its audited results for the full year ended December 31, 2021, reporting impressive performance in key financial metrics.
The 2021 financial result filed by the bank at the Nigerian Exchange Limited at the weekend, showed that gross earnings rose significantly to N660.2 billion, representing an increase of seven per cent, compared to N616.8 billion recorded at the end of the 2020 financial year. The bank’s total assets grew by 11 per cent to an unprecedented N8.5 trillion in the year under review, up from N7.7 trillion in 2020, thus making the first time the bank’s assets would cross the N8 trillion mark.
The bank stood firm despite the huge challenging business and slow economic recovery in most of its countries of operations, as UBA’s profit before tax was impressive with a 20.3 per cent growth to N153.1 billion, compared to N127.3 billion at the end of the 2020 financial year; while profit after tax grew by 8.7 per cent to N118.7 billion in 2021, compared to N109.2 billion recorded the previous year. Similarly, its net loans grew by 7.7 per cent to N2.8 trillion, whilst customer deposits rose by 12.2 per cent to N6.4 trillion, compared to N5.7 trillion in the corresponding period of 2020. This was a reflection of increased customer confidence, enhanced customer experience, successes from the ongoing business transformation programme and the deepening of the bank’s retail banking franchise.
In the year under consideration, the bank’s operating income rose by 10 per cent to N443 billion compared to N403 billion in the prior year, whereas operating expenses closed the period at N279 billion. In its usual tradition of rewarding shareholders, the bank proposed a final dividend of 80 kobo for every ordinary share of 50 kobo for the financial year ended December 31, 2021. The final dividend, which is subject to the affirmation of the shareholders at its Annual General Meeting will bring the total dividend for the year to N1 as the bank had paid an interim dividend of 20kobo earlier in the year.
Commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director/CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, said notwithstanding the tight and challenging operating environment, UBA continues to deliver significant performance. He added: “The year 2021 can best be described as a year of global recovery; economies around the world began to witness early-stage recoveries, as supply chains recover from the devastating disruptions suffered in 2020.”
