Unity Bank total assets hit N413.31bn

UNITY Bank has continued to improve on its profitability level from a negative Profit and Loss (P&L) witnessed in the industry.
Speaking at the Fact behind Figure yesterday, Managing Director of the bank, Henry James Semenitari said the Bank had made a remarkable turnaround in 2014 as the commercial bank returned to the green with a pre-tax profit of about N14 billion. Against the background of loss before tax of N33.64 billion in 2013, Unity Bank rode on the back of improved capital base, growing top-line and better cost efficiency to record a full-year profit before tax of N13.64 billion.
According to him, Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that gross earnings rose from N62.83 billion in 2013 to N77.07 billion in 2014. Interest income had grown from N52.2 billion in 2013 to N62.64 billion in 2014 while net interest income rose from N30.14 billion to N45.45 billion. Fee and commission income stood at N10.71 billion in 2014 as against N7.33 billion in 2013. Other incomes totaled N3.72 billion in 2014 compared with N3.30 billion in 2013.
After taxes, net profit stood at N10.69 billion in 2014 compared with net loss after tax of N22.58 billion in 2013. Earnings per share thus turned positive with a modest 17.45 kobo in 2014 in contrast with loss per share of 58.74 kobo recorded in previous year.
The balance sheet of the bank also firmed up substantially. Total assets rose to N413.31 billion in 2014 as against N403.63 billion in 2013. Total liabilities meanwhile dropped from N375.42 billion in 2013 to N337.04 billion in 2014. Shareholders’ funds closed 2014 at N76.26 billion as against N28.21 billion in 2013
Unity Bank had in January 2014 moved to reposition its operations for better performance with the appointment of a new CEO and two executive directors as well as plans to inject fresh capital into its operations.
As of October, there were indications that the bank’s efforts were yielding results after it released its third quarter results, which showed that it recorded a 900 per cent growth in profit.
The results, the first released by a bank for Q3 2014, showed that the bank, which recorded a 92 per cent growth in profit after tax the first half of the year, grew its PAT by 900 per cent, a figure that beat estimates.
Also in October, the Nigerian Stock Exchange admitted 78.45 billion ordinary shares of Unity Bank in a supplementary listing following a successful rights issue and special placement exercise by the bank.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Henry Semenitari, who said the issue had been oversubscribed, had assured the shareholders that the funds would be judiciously used to achieve set goals, stressing that the exercise would help revamp the bank.
He had said, “The funds to be raised will be judiciously utilised to improve our processes, procedure and people. The bank’s Q1 report is already indicative of the improvements and is just an indication of the positive turn of results.”
According to the bank, the offer proceeds will be used for branch development, information technology upgrade, products and channel upgrade, human resource development, corporate communications and enhancement of its working capital.