Zenith Bank Plc has announced its unaudited financial report for Q1 2020 showing N166.8 billion gross earnings, up 6 per cent from N158.1 billion in Q1 2019.
From the statement of account which was presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, the top-line growth was driven by the 43 per cent expansion in non-interest income from N32.7 billion in the prior-year period to N46.6 billion in March 2020.
The bank’s profit before tax also rose 3 per cent from N57.3 billion in the prior-year period to N58.8 billion in March 2020. The increased profits benefited from the twin effects of continuing top-line growth and focused cost-of-funds optimisation.
Cost of funds declined significantly from 3.0 per cent in March 2019 to 2.6 per cent in the quarter, translating into a 10 per cent decrease in interest expense dropping from N36.3 billion in March 2019 to N32.8 billion in the 2020 corresponding period.
Despite the drop, the current low yield environment necessitated the re-pricing of interest-bearing assets which in turn resulted in a 13 percent compression in net interest margin, decreasing from 8.9 per cent in March 2019 to 7.7 per cent in the current period.
Customers’ deposits increased by 5 per cent from N4.26 trillion in December 2019 to N4.46 trillion in Q1 2020.
The report also showed that the bank’s customer deposit mix rebalancing remained on-track as the group added N150 billion in savings account balances in Q1 2020, supported by its retail drive.
The bank’s total assets increased by 12 per cent growing from N6.35 trillion in December 2019 to close at N7.13 trillion in Q1 2020 while gross loans grew by 11 per cent from N2.46 trillion in December 2019 to N2.74 trillion in Q1 2020.
