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Zenith Bank Plc says its profit-before-tax in the first quarter of 2020 has hit N58.8 billion with a three per cent raise from N57.3 billion in the same period in 2019.
Similarly, its gross earnings for the first quarter of 2020 now stands at N166.8 billion, rising by six per cent from N158.1 billion in March 2019.
In an unaudited statement of account presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on April 29, the bank said its 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.
Zenith Bank said it continued to enjoy customer acceptance with deposits increasing by five per cent from N4.26 trillion in December 2019 to N4.46 trillion in first quarter of 2020.
The bank’s customer deposit mix rebalancing remains on-track as the Group added N150 billion in savings account balances in Q1, supported by its retail drive.
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 three per cent in March 2019 to 2.6 per cent in the quarter, translating to a 10 per cent decrease in interest expense dropping from N36.3 billion in March 2019 to N32.8 billion in the quarter.
Despite this drop, the low yield environment necessitated the repricing of interest-bearing assets which in turn resulted in a 13 per cent compression in net interest margin, decreasing from 8.9 per cent in March 2019 to 7.7 per cent in the current period.
On its assets, it said the total assets increased by 12 per cent growing from N6.35 trillion in December 2019 to close at N7.13 trillion in first quarter of 2020.
On its loan portfolio, Zenith Bank said gross loans grew by 11 per cent from N2.46 trillion in December 2019 to N2.74 trillion in first quarter of 2020..
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