By Abiola Olawale
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Africa’s Global Bank, has set a new standard of excellence, in its audited financial results for the year 2023, demonstrating exceptional and unparalleled performance across all its major indicators.
The Bank recently submitted its 2023 financial report to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGx) on Monday, detailing its earnings for the period. The report showed that the Bank experienced a significant increase in gross earnings, which rose from N853.2 billion in 2022 to N2.08tn in 2023, representing a substantial 143 percent growth.
This significant increase in gross earnings is a testament to the Bank’s robust financial performance and its ability to navigate the challenging economic climate.
Also, the banks’ total assets rose remarkably by 90.22 percent, doubling the N10 trillion mark, to close at N20.65 trillion in December 2023; up from N10.86 trillion in 2022. This leap remains a very significant achievement and milestone in the history of the financial powerhouse.
Despite the highly challenging global economic and business environment, UBA recorded a laudable profit before tax, with an exponential growth of 277 percent, to close the year under review at N758 Billion, rising from N201 billion recorded at the end of the 2022 financial year; while profit after tax (PAT) grew by 257 percent from N170 billion in 2022, to N608 billion in the year under consideration.
Consequently, UBA Group Shareholders’ Funds rose from N922 billion as of December 2022 to close the 2023 financial year at N2.0tn, achieving an impressive growth of 120.2%, compared to the prior year.
In the year under consideration, UBA Group’s cost-to-income ratio dropped from 59.2%, in 2022, to 37.2 percent pointing at the Group’s improving efficiency.
In fulfillment of the promise made by the UBA Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, to shareholders at the last Annual General Meeting, the Bank proposed a final dividend of N2.30 kobo for every ordinary share of 50 kobo, for the financial year ended December 31, 2023. The final dividend is subject to the ratification of the shareholders during its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM).
Commenting on the results, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, said: “I am very pleased with the unprecedented results achieved by our Group in FY2023. The Group made a profit before tax of N758 billion, from N201 billion in the prior year. The balance sheet also grew to N20.7 trillion from N10.8 trillion in the previous year.
He said, “The Group’s shareholder’s funds crossed N2 Trillion from N922bn in 2022, whilst total assets crossed the N20 trillion mark (90.2% YoY growth). The Group is well positioned for further business expansion in FY2024 having closed FY2023 with a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 32.6%.”
