Sterling Bank Posts N7.3bn Net Profit, Promises Improved Performance

Sterling Bank Posts N7.3bn Net Profit, Promises Improved Performance

Goddy Egene

The Managing Director/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman has said the bank will continue to take a customer-centric approach to achieving growth and enhance its digital capacity while remaining focused on exceeding performance in the previous year.

Suleiman stated this while commenting on the financial performance of the bank for the nine months ended September 30, 2019, where it recorded a profit after tax (PAT) of N7.35 billion.

In all, the bank posted gross earnings of N113 billion, compared with N114 billion in the corresponding period of 2018, while net interest income stood at N47.53 billion, up from N39.834 billion in 2018, representing a growth of 19.3 per cent.

The growth was driven by 200 per cent growth in the bank’s retail and consumer loans portfolio. Specta, the bank’s innovative digital lending platform, supported this growth with volumes averaging N8 billion per month, reaching over 40,000 individuals at the end of September, 2019.

Fee and commission income rose from N10.7 billion to N14 billion, while it ended the period with a profit before tax of N7.65 billion, compared with N8.5 billion. PAT stood at N7.37 billion, as against N8.2 billion in 2018.

Other financial highlights showed that customers’ deposits appreciated to N853.551 billion during the period under review compared to N760.6 billion in the corresponding period of 2018, indicating a growth of N12.2 per cent while loans advances to customers grew to N635.093 in 2019 from N621.017 billion in 2018, representing a growth of 2.3 percent.

Shareholders’ funds rose to N109.535 billion during the period under review in 2019 compared to N97.800 billion reported for the corresponding of 2018, representing a growth of 12 per cent.

Non-performing loans dropped to 7.4 per cent during the review period in 2019 from 8.7 percent in the corresponding period of 2018, representing an improvement of 14.6 percent.

Commenting on the performance, Suleiman said: “Our performance continues to reflect positive results of strategic decisions and investments in our focus areas. We recorded significant improvement in transaction led revenue and our funding base riding on adoption of digital channels. Overall, we delivered a 7.7 per cent increase in operating income and profit after tax of N7.58 billion.

“Going into the final quarter, we will continue to take a customer-centric centric approach to achieving growth and enhance our digital capacity to further support the business, while remaining focused on exceeding our performance in the previous year.”

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