The FCMB Group said its profit before tax during the financial year ended December 31, 2023, grew by 185.6 percent year-on-year to N104.4 billion with divisions of the Group recording robust earnings growth.
Shareholders will get a dividend of 50 kobo per share for the financial year.
The banking segment of the group emerged biggest contributor to earnings growth to the tume of 212.6 percent while consumer finance achieved 67.3 percent. Investment Management and Investment Banking contributed 40 percent and 89.7 percent respectively.
Gross revenue stood at N516.4 billion for the period ended December 2023, an 82.5 percent growth from N283 billion for the same period prior year.
This was driven by a 61.7 percent growth in interest income and a 154.4 percent growth in non-interest income.
Net interest income grew by 44.8 percent from N122 billion, in the prior year, to N176.6 billion at the end of December 2023.This was driven by a growth in the yield on earning assets for the period.
Operating expenses grew 38 percent y/y to N157.2 billion for the period ended December 2023, due to increased personnel costs, regulatory costs, technology related costs and general inflationary pressures. Cost-to-income ratio closed at 48.9 percent for the period ended December 2023.
Net impairment loss on financial assets increased to N59.5 billion y/y, for the period ended December 2023, from N25 billion in the prior year resulting in a growth in cost of risk to 3 percent.
Loans and advances grew by 54 percent y/y, from N1.20 trillion to N1.84 trillion at the end of December 2023 while total assets increased by 48.3 percent from N2.98 trillion to N4.42 trillion at the end of December 2023.
Customer deposits grew by 58.5 percent y/y, from N1.94 trillion to N3.08 trillion at the end of December 2023.
Assets Under Management grew by 29.6 percent from N783.7 billion to N1.02 trillion at the end of December 2023.
Investment Banking (advisory and primary debt and equity capital markets) transaction value consummated by the Group rose to N945.3 billion for the period ended December 2023, compared to N857.1 billion in the same period prior year.
Commenting, the Group said, “Our customer base grew by 15.6% YoY from 10.9 million to 12.5 million customers for the period ended December 2023, whilst users of our new mobile app that offers lending, wealth and payment solutions grew by 31% YoY to 3.4 million. Similarly, our agency banking network grew to over 164,000 agents. With an enlarged customer base, an expanded distribution platform, and the use of artificial intelligence to automate and optimize our loan underwriting processes, we were able to disburse over 1.5 million loans worth N100.8 billion to individuals, N14.4 billion to micro enterprises and N177.9 billion to SMEs during the period. 83,000 customers were also able to access retail investment products via our digital channels.
“For the period ended December 2023, we contributed to food security and import substitution in Nigeria by growing our lending to the agricultural sector by 38.4% from N147.4 billion in FY 2022 to N204.3 billion. In addition, we supported over 300,000 small holder farmers with 56% being Women-In-Agriculture in rural communities. Over $280 million of funding from DFI’s and donor agencies was raised during the course of the year to support the attainment of sustainable development goals in critical sectors of the economy.”
FCMB said it leveraged its core business tofacilitate over $700 million and $100 million in export and remittance flows into the country, respectively, as at December 2023.
“We continue to leverage our unique Group structure to build a technology driven ecosystem that is fostering inclusive and sustainable growth in the communities we serve. This strategy is enabling us to deliver robust performance in spite of the challenging domestic and global environment. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we believe this trend will be sustained and accompanied with improving efficiencies arising from greater scale and ongoing digitization,” the Group noted.