Rashidat Okunlade Writes

Retail lender, Unity Bank Plc grew its deposits to N333.38 billion, representing a marginal increase of 2% compared to N327.42 billion recorded in H1’22 in its Half-Year unaudited financial statement submitted to the Nigeria Exchange Group Limited.

The growth in deposits demonstrates incremental gains by the lender from its commitment to deepening its retail footprint through a well-diversified banking product suite that caters to different segments of the retail market.

Other highlights of the unaudited financial statement include gross income and total assets which recorded N27.5 billion as against N27.4 billion and N512.1 billion from N510.1 billion respectively within the period under review. The net loans portfolio reduced significantly by 31% to N198.6 billion as of 30 June 2023 from N289.4 billion as at 31st December 2022. The Bank’s NPL Ratio remained moderate at below 3% while the liquidity ratio stood strong at over 45%.

However, the Bank’s profit for the period was impacted by foreign exchange revaluation on the back of Nigeria’s recent FX liberalization policy, resulting in a slide in our position.

Notwithstanding, the retail lender grew its FX trading income significantly by 17% to N239.8 million from N204.4 million in the corresponding period of 2022, underscoring the Bank’s strategic focus on diversifying and growing its earnings portfolio.

Similarly, fees and income commission also witnessed a 10% growth to N3.5 billion from N3.2 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2022, on the strength of the growing popularity of its digital banking platforms and customers’ acquisition in the retail space.

Commenting on the financial statements, the Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun noted that the significant disruptions that characterized the operating environment have impacted the positions of the Bank to the extent that we have constraints in income generation on the back of revaluation of the bank’s net foreign liabilities occasioned by the Naira devaluation during the period.

Mrs. Tomi stated: “In the light of the prevailing FX revaluation in the financial system, what we have is a market-driven impact which is adjustable and envisaged from the positive economic outcomes of the government policies in the near term. Be that as it may, the negative shareholders’ fund has improved considerably through the injection of N135billion which moderated the negative shareholders’ fund from (-ve) N275Billion in the December 2022 financial year-end to (-ve) N178Billion at the end of June 2023, after absorbing the FX revaluation loss suffered in Q2/2023. We are, however, focused on clear-cut plans to close out on our recapitalization programme very soon to enable us to do business as expected in the fast-growing markets in Nigeria”

She further stated that while we remain optimistic that the government’s policy initiatives will lead to correction in the market, the Bank has accelerated measures to ramp up asset creation and liability generation in the short and medium term. The Bank is aggressively driving its retail growth in every segment of the market, expanding strategic partnerships; and growing commercial banking business to develop new and sustainable income lines for the Bank as well as pay sufficient attention to fast-paced process automation, cost and resource efficiency, targeted value chain relationships, and product marketing to enhance value creation in the market.

Analysts are of the view that notwithstanding the market shocks currently being experienced, the Bank is still on course given the resilience it has demonstrated over time.

Rashidat Okunlade Writes

The Board of Shell plc today announced the pounds sterling and euro equivalent dividend payments in respect of the second quarter 2023 interim dividend, which was announced on July 27, 2023, at US$0.331 per ordinary share.

Shareholders have been able to elect to receive their dividends in US dollars, euros, or pounds sterling. Holders of ordinary shares who have validly submitted US dollars, euros, or pounds sterling currency elections by August 25, 2023, will be entitled to a dividend of US$0.331, €0.3046, or 26.12p per ordinary share, respectively.

Absent any valid election to the contrary, persons holding their ordinary shares through Euroclear Nederland will receive their dividends in euros at the euro rate per ordinary share shown above. Absent any valid election to the contrary, shareholders (both holding in certificated and uncertificated form (CREST members)) and persons holding their shares through the Shell Corporate Nominee will receive their dividends in pounds sterling, at the pound sterling rate per ordinary share shown above.

Euro and pounds sterling dividends payable in cash have been converted from US dollars based on an average of market exchange rates over the three dealing days from August 30 to September 1, 2023. This dividend will be payable on September 18, 2023, to those members whose names were on the Register of Members on August 11, 2023.

Rashidat Okunlade Writes

For the second year running, leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, has emerged as the company with the highest earnings per share on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) based on half-year financial figures.

According to a report by BusinessDay, Fidelity Bank, Seplat Energy, Total Energies, Okomu oil, Presco, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria, BUA Foods, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Geregu Power emerged as the companies with the highest earnings per share within the review period.

Earnings per share (EPS) is a company’s net profit divided by the number of common shares it has outstanding.

It also indicates how much money a company makes for each share of its stock and is a widely used metric for estimating corporate value.

A higher EPS indicates greater value because investors will pay more for a company’s shares if they think the company has higher profits relative to its share price.
Fidelity Bank recorded an earnings per share of N184 in the first half of 2023 from N79 in the first half of 2022.

The shares outstanding stand at 32.01 million, with a price which stood at N7 and a traded volume of 32.15 million as of 12:59 p.m. on Friday.

The bank’s profit for the period stood at N53.3 billion in the first half of 2023 from N22.84 billion in the similar period of 2022.

Fidelity Bank’s cash and cash equivalents rose to N501.54 billion in the first half of 2023 from N276.07 in the first half of 2022.

It would be recalled that the bank’s shareholders recently approved a capital raising exercise via a Public Offer for up to 10 billion Ordinary Shares and Rights Issue of up to 3.2 billion Ordinary Shares representing one new share for every 10 shares held to new and existing shareholders respectively.