Wema Bank Plc, a Nigerian mid-tier lender, this year grew its halfyear profit the most in 5 years to sustain its profit growth momentum which started in 2016 after a dip in half-year net profit in 2015.
The lender grew its profit after tax by 43 percent to N2.25 billion in the first half of 2019, the biggest leap since 2014, as against N1.57 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2018. This came on the back of increased loyalty from its customers as they continued to trust the lender with higher deposits.
Wema Bank’s deposits from customers rose from N354.9 billion as of June 2018 to N446 billion as of June 2019, indicating an increase of N191 billion within a year. As a result, gross earnings surged 60.8 percent to N40.8 billion in the review period.
The bank’s profit growth was also supported by interest income generated from loans and advances to banks and customer, and on its investments in securities. Wema Bank’s interest income on loans and advances to banks and customers grew by almost a quarter to N28.37 billion from N22.82 billion.
Similarly, the bank’s investment income on investment securities grew by 66 percent to N3.67 billion in the half-year 2019 compared with N2.21 billion achieved in the same period of last year.
Net impairment loss on financial assets rose more than double to N823 billion from N344 billion, while operating income continued grew 23.6 percent to N19 billion from N15 billion.
Wema Bank paid N359 million as income tax expense for the review period from N244 million in the same period in 2018, while its earnings per share increased from N8.2 to N11.6.
Shares of the tier-two lender fell by 3.23 percent Tuesday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to close at 60 kobo per share, the negative performance further worsened its year-to-date return to 4.76 percent even though it outperformed the NSE broad index which has plunged 11.49 percent since the beginning of the year.
