FBN Holdings Announces N505.2billion Gross Earnings

The Financial House which made its result public at the Nigerian stock Exchange, NSE, on Tuesday, April 26, also recorded an increase of 8.7 per cent in net interest income which stood at N265 billion in 2015 compared to N243.9 billion in the corresponding year.

The holding company’s non- interest income however dropped to N99.4 billion in contrast to N112.99 billion in 2014, a decrease of 12 per cent.

Also, its profit after tax stood at N15.1 billion as against N84 billion in the preceding period, a decrease of 82 per cent year-on-year.

Analysts attributed the dismal performance to the oil sector crisis, Treasury Single Account (TSA) and harsh economic environment impacted its books.

However rising cost of funds, decline in loans and a huge provision for loan losses had drained its earnings. Impairment charge for credit losses was N119.3 billion as against N25.9 billion which it recorded in its 2014 financials.

This impacted its profit after tax which dropped to N15.1 billion at the end of the 2015 financial year from N84.0 billion made in 2014. The financial conglomerate had however embarked on cost cutting measures as its operating expenses dropped by 5.6 per cent to N223.6 billion from N236.8 billion.

Cost of risk however closed higher at 5.7 per cent from 1.3 per cent while Non-Performing Loans ratio rose to 18.1 per cent from 2.9 per cent in 2014. FBN Holdings in a statement said 2015 was a very challenging year in its risk management performance, “specifically within our principal subsidiary, FirstBank (Nigeria).