FINANCE

Unity Bank Posts Assets Growth of 67.90% to N492.02B, As Gross Earnings Hit N42.71B in 2020

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unity Bank records growth<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that  Unity Bank Plc grew its assets base to N492&period;02billion representing a significant increase of 67&period;90&percnt; from the N293&period;05 billion of total assets value recorded in 2019&period; This is even as the agric-focused lender declared gross earnings of N42&period;71 billion within the period under review&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A review of the Bank’s audited results for full year ended 31 December 2020&comma; released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange&comma; showed that the Bank improved its bottom line marginally as Profit After Tax&comma; PAT stood at N2&period;09 billion&period; Profit Before Tax&comma; PBT closed at N2&period;22 billion&comma; in a year that was defined by the unmitigated impact of global pandemic characterized by disruptions in business activities and general downturn that resulted in revenue&sol;returns dip in major leading sectors globally&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The lender substantially grew its customers&&num;8217&semi; deposit portfolio to N356&period;62 billion&comma; up from N257&period;69 billion in the corresponding period of 2019&comma; representing a 38&period;4&percnt; growth&period; This affirms positive market uptake of the Bank’s product offerings&comma; as well as the lender’s growing customer base to its recent aggressive push with agile customer-centric products&comma; which has played a role in deepening financial services penetration especially to a wider world&comma; underserved spectrum of the retail market&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other major highlight of the audited financial statement relates to growth in its net operating income which rose to N25&period;46 billion from N23&period;21 billion in the corresponding period of 2019&comma; representing a 9&period;71&percnt; increase&period; This is even as the net interest income recorded a significant jump&comma; as it rose by 7&period;60&percnt; to N17&period;75 billion from N16&period;49 billion in the corresponding period of 2019&period; Earnings per Share closed at 17&period;85 Kobo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Bank’s gross loans portfolio increased by 92&period;9&percnt; to N206&period;2 billion in December 2020 from N106&period;9 billion in December 2019&period; The Bank’s lending strategy was specially tailored to support the nation’s food agenda&period; This had the added advantage of improving food security across the country&comma; providing employment to thousands of youths and entrepreneurs&comma; contributing to the conservation of FX stocks and mitigating security challenges by ensuring adequate empowerment of citizens and deepening skills acquisition across the value chain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Commenting on the result&comma; Unity Bank’s Managing Director&sol;Chief Executive Officer&comma; Mrs&period; Tomi Somefun stated that the results showed the resilience of the Bank during unprecedented times of uncertainties and our ability to innovate and focus on key balance sheet items that will enable us maintain growth trajectory&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She further opined that&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Consequently&comma; for the year under review&comma; the opportunities to significantly create more quality assets for the business&comma; thought to have sustainable impact&comma; informed part of choices made and we have seen some encouraging market uptake in this regard&comma; apart from the benefits to the enterprise bottom-line that have also started trickling in&period; Other key performance indicators especially on the liability side of the business was equally not left out&period; The Bank deployed new product features and augmentation supported by omni-channel&comma;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;"> USSD<&sol;a> promotions and other channels to enhance services delivery efficiency&comma; drive income generation capacities and enhance steady balance sheet growth for the year”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Looking ahead&comma; Somefun stated&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;we will latch on targeted strategies to deploy significant investment in technology in order to ride the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic&period; On the back of this&comma; the Bank focus on achieving major efficiency gains&comma; deepening its retail footprints and penetrating identified cluster market segments&comma; as bulwarks to tapping into various youth markets platforms&comma; in addition to the mass market would get further boost”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While laying outlook for the future&comma; the Unity Bank’s Chief further stated&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Unity <strong>Bank<&sol;strong> is also looking to consolidate on the gains from its core business areas and niche in the agribusiness sector&period; The Bank has solidly financed over one million farmers over the past three years&period; These farmers cut across several primary crop production such as rice&comma; maize&comma; cotton&comma; wheat&comma; sorghum&comma; etc coupled with their rich value chains&comma; and we hope to continue to expand on this as we play our part in driving the country’s quest for self-sufficiency in food production&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Analysts are of the view that having made appreciable impact in the agribusiness and its value chains consistently&comma; the market is excited that the current year performance and different initiatives of the Bank show that the agribusiness is bankable not only as a differential positioning but also for sustainable business performance and profitability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Share This
Openlife Reporter

Recent Posts

Joy As Veekee James And Femi Atere Welcome Baby Girl After Anticipated Journey

Joy As Veekee James And Femi Atere Welcome Baby Girl After Anticipated Journey    …

3 hours ago

Former Power Minister And 2027 Governorship Aspirant Sentenced To 75 Years In Prison For Fraud

Former Power Minister And 2027 Governorship Aspirant Sentenced To 75 Years In Prison For Fraud…

4 hours ago

Nollywood Actress, Shine Rosman, Raises Alarm Over Alleged Sexual Harassment In Lagos OpenLife reports that Nollywood actress Shine Rosman has spoken about what she describes as ongoing incidents of sexual harassment affecting women in parts of Lagos, particularly in Yaba. She said the issue is widely known among residents but remains unaddressed. “Do you know how bad sexual harrssment is in Lagos? Like go to Yaba, as a girl and see how you will be touched inappropriately. Everybody hearing this knows that it is true. But till today, nothing is being done about it.” She described what she claims are repeated incidents of inappropriate contact in public spaces without consequences for those responsible. “You’re walking in Yaba and people are touching you inappropriately and nothing will happen.” Rosman questioned the absence of effective intervention and raised concerns about personal safety in such environments. “If the government is not going to do anything, is it not ok for us to defend ourselves? In 2026, in a country like Nigeria, s+xual har+ssment is still one of the most passive things.” She also raised concerns about the implications of such behaviour occurring in open public spaces. “If a man can s+xually h+rass you casually during the day, what do you think he can do behind closed doors when no one is looking?”. The comments were made during an interview with Tolu Afilaka, where she discussed women’s safety in public areas of Lagos.

Nollywood Actress   OpenLife reports that Nollywood actress Shine Rosman has spoken about what she…

1 day ago

Political Theatrics In Kaduna As Mahmud Sadis Buba’s Reps Ambition Generates Unanswered Questions (Video)

Political Theatrics In Kaduna As Mahmud Sadis Buba's Reps Ambition Generates Unanswered Questions (Video) OpenLife…

1 day ago

Full List Of Nigerian Universities With Highest Number Of 2026 Jamb Applicants

Full List Of Nigerian Universities With Highest Number Of 2026 Jamb Applicants   OpenLife Nigeria…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.