Access Bank Plc has released its half year audited account for the period ending June 30, 2017 having recorded an 18.3 per cent rise in its profit before tax and 44.2 per cent improvement in the group interest income.
The bank which declared an interim dividend of 25 kobo per share to shareholders registered on its books as at September 7, 2017, had recorded an interest income of N161.9 billion in the first six months of the year as against N112.29 billion which was recorded in the comparable period of 2016.
According to the bank, the increase in interest income is attributable to the increase in value of loans and advances to customers, the impact of currency devaluation and repricing.
The interest expense however rose by 79.9 per cent following a 181 per cent increase in interest paid on the debts issued by the bank.
The interest expense of Access Bank on the debts it issued rose from N6.44 billion in the half year of 2016 to N18.1 billion in the half year of 2017.
This saw the total interest expense rise to N78.86 billion from N43.84 billion.
Its impairments on loan losses was also on the rise although at a much slower rate, having risen by 1.5 per cent to N10.36 billion at the end of the 2017 half year from N10.21 billion in the comparable period of 2016.
As against a foreign exchange loss of N11.1 billion recorded by the bank in the first six months of 2016, Access Bank recorded a N59.02 billion gain on foreign exchange.
This saw the profit before tax of the bank rise to N542.04 billion at the end of the half year ended June 30, 2017 compared to N43.99 PBT recorded in the comparable period of 2016.
The bank saw its customer deposit between January and June 2017 decline by 9.1 per cent, contributing to the 1.87 per cent drop in the value of its total liabilities.
Customer deposits had dropped to N1.899 trillion down from N2.089 trillion while total liabilities stood at N2.974 trillion as at June 30, 2017 compared to N3.029 trillion which it was as at December 31, 2016.
Consequently, its lending to customers declined as total loans and advances to customers stood at N1.739 trillion as at June 30, 2017 as against N1.809 trillion as at December 31, 2016 while total assets dropped to N3.455 trillion from N3.483 trillion.
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