United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, has declared an interim dividend of 20 kobo per share for the period ended June 30, 2016, following the marginal in its half-year profit.
UBA Plc was the last bank to make its H1 financials available, having announced a delay in releasing the results. According to its audited accounts, UBA posted a PBT of N40.270 billion, up fromN39.621 billion in 2015 and PAT of N32.621 billion, compared with N31.999 billion in 2015.
The lender’s share price is already up by 31 per cent this year and consensus forecasts are that the share price is still under priced at its current price of N4.32 as at 30 August, 2016.
Though earnings were flat but the bank recorded a significant growth in total assets, rising 20 per cent to N3.3 trillion, crossing the three trillion mark.
The bank’s net loan position rose 29 per cent to N1.29 trillion partially boosted by the depreciation in the value of the Naira. UBA also recorded a significant 16 per cent growth in deposits to N2.41 trillion already surpassing the 15 per cent target growth in deposits set at the beginning of the year.
Another positive for UBA was a drop in cost to income ratio to 63 per cent in 2016, compared to 64 per cent in same period of 2015.
This implies that the bank leveraged economics of scale to moderate operating expenses, as it achieved a 90 basis point decline in cost-to-income ratio in an inflationary environment. Notwithstanding the external pressure of a 42 per cent depreciation of the Naira and headline inflation rate of 16.5 per cent in the period, the bank kept operating cost in check, declining 1.0 per cent year-on-year during the period.
Also, the bank maintained its strong asset quality, with non-performing loans ratio at 2.4 per cent, well below the CBN set limit of 5.0 per cent for the banking industry.
This interim dividend is sustenance of the interim dividend payment initiated last year, when the Bank also paid N0.20 interim dividend, before a final dividend declaration of N0.40 per share, following the audit of the 2015 full year results.
The interim dividend translates to a 4.5 per cent dividend yield, based on the closing price of N4.45 as at the close of market on Monday, 29 August, 2016.
