By Etuka Sunday
Jaiz Bank Plc recorded well-rounded performance in the first quarter of this year as Nigeria’s premier non-interest commercial bank continued to improve its cost efficiency and risk management.
Key extracts of the three-month report for the period ended March 31, 2019 released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that gross earnings rose by 38.7 per cent while pre and post-tax profits jumped by 225.08 per cent and 244.19 per cent respectively. Earnings per share rose by 190 per cent.
The three-month report indicated that gross earnings rose to N2.59 billion in first quarter 2019 as against N1.87 billion in first quarter 2018. Gross profit grew by 51.9 per cent increased from N1.39 billion to N2.11 billion. Profit before tax jumped from N146.57 million to N476.46 million. After taxes, net profit rose to N428.68 million in first quarter 2019 compared with N124.58 million in first quarter 2018. Consequently, earnings per share increased to 1.45 kobo in first quarter 2019 as against 0.50 kobo in corresponding period of 2018.
The first quarter performance further consolidated the growth trajectory of the alternative banking pioneer and raised strong prospect of Jaiz Bank substantially surpassing its full-year performance in 2018 in the current business year. The net profit in first quarter 2019 is more than half of the full-year net profit recorded in 2018.
Jaiz Bank recently released its audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2018, showing 55 per cent growth in net profit to N834.37 million.Gross earnings rose by 11 per cent from N7.86 billion in 2017 to N8.74 billion in 2018. Profit before tax increased from N894.01 million to N897.70 million. After taxes, net profit rose from N537.12 million to N834.37 million.
The balance sheet showed stronger underlying strength during the period. Total assets rose by 24 per cent from N87.31 billion to N108.46 billion. Deposits also grew by 25 per cent from N68.12 billion in 2017 to N85.03 billion in 2018. The non-interest bank expanded its financing and investment activities by 37 per cent to N69.36 billion in 2018 as against N50.79 billion in 2017. Jaiz Bank, as a non-interest bank, makes profit basically from profit-sharing on investments and gains on trading activities.
Key underlying ratios showed improvements in returns and operational strength of the bank. Return on assets rose by a quarter from 0.6 per cent in 2017 to 0.8 per cent in 2018. While cost-to-income inched up from 85.84 per cent to 87.28 per cent, return on equity improved from 6.54 per cent to 6.85 per cent. Capital adequacy remains considerably above regulatory threshold at 21.13 per cent while liquidity ratio increased by 50 per cent from 18.64 per cent to 27.94 per cent. Staff strength and number of branches also increased by 6.0 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
Managing Director, Jaiz Bank Plc, Mr. Hassan Usman, said the 2018 results further demonstrated that the bank has the capacity to grow sustainably in line with its strategic vision of becoming the leading non-interest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.
He assured that while maintaining steady focus on elements that contributed to improved performance in 2018, the bank shall work harder to optimise its potential in order to deliver better returns in 2019
