Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc (STANBIC) recorded a 7.6% YoY increase in earnings to N20.6 billion in its unaudited Q1’20 result. The growth in earnings largely reflected a 47.1% YoY improvement in trading revenue during the review period.
Highlights:
Net interest income weakened 8.3% YoY, weighed by a fall in interest income (-11.8% YoY). The decline in interest income was due to the 30.9% YoY slump in interest on investment securities
Gross Earnings grew by 4.6% to N61bn from N59bn in the previous quarter.
Profit before tax grew by 3.8% to N24bn.
Profit after tax grew by 7.6% to N20.6bn.
Net Assets grew by 6.1% to N321bn from N302bn.
Non-interest income jumped 20.9% YoY, supported by the 47.1% YoY growth in trading gains. The increase in trading revenue was due to the sale of some of the bank’s fixed income positions to book capital gains amidst the decline in the yield environment. Likewise, net fee and commission income rose 6.7%, driven by higher asset management fees (+17.9% YoY) and brokerage & financial advisory fees (+40.7% YoY)
Operating expenses declined by 1.2% YoY in Q1’20. The decline in operating expenses likely relates to the reversal in provisions for legal costs, levies, and fines amounting to N3.1 billion. As a result, the cost to income ratio improved to 48.4% from 53.1% in Q1’19. The reversal of provisions largely masked the 40.7% jump in AMCON charges. Hence, absent the reversals, operating expenses could have risen by 11.0% with cost to income ratio at 54.4%, while earnings could have slumped by 8.4% YoY
Gross loans and advances to customers increased by 15.1% during the quarter. NPL ratio also rose to 4.2% from 3.9% in December 2019. Also, deposits rose 13.2%, with low-cost deposits accounting for 80.6% compared to 71.1% in December 2019
Annualised ROE came was 26.4% (December 27.7%), while capital adequacy was 17.4% (Regulatory requirement: 10.0%)