United Capital Plc has recorded a profit before tax of N1.422 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, indicating an increase of 61 per cent above the N707 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.
The unaudited results made available by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Monday, April 11, showed that United Capital, which surprised investors with a 39 per cent growth in PAT for 2015 financial year, recorded gross earnings of N1.857 billion in Q1 of 2016, compared with N1.307 billion in 2015.
Net operating income stood at N1.761 billion, up by 49 per cent from N1.182 billion in 2015. Total expenses was reduced by 11 per cent from N512 million to N453 million. As a result profit before tax improved by 59 per cent from N892 million to N1.422 billion, while PAT witnessed a fast growth of 61 per cent to be at N1.137 billion as against N707 million in 2015.
Market analysts hailed the results, saying is a consolidation on the company’s 2015 full year performance. The shares of the company rose 4.3 per cent or 4.3 per cent to close higher at N1.48.
United Capital had recorded earnings of N6.15 billion in 2015, up from N4.68 billion in 2014, representing a 32 per cent over 2014 performance. PBT grew to N3.26 billion from N2.31 billion, which is an increase of 41 per cent. PAT also grew by 39 per cent in 2015, closing at N2.57 billion, up from N1.85 billion in 2014.
Commenting on the full year results, Group Chief Executive Officer, Oluwatoyin Sanni had said the performance in a year characterized by adverse macro-economic factors, was driven by the group’s growing market share, efficient execution of key mandates and effective cost management driven by improvements in operations and IT capabilities, thereby ensuring that we optimized value and retained a significant proportion of earnings.
“We continue to pursue our clear and consistent strategy, which has delivered a strong performance for shareholders, and we remain positive about our future opportunities within the Nigerian and African market, not-withstanding the challenging macro-economic environment,” Sanni said.
According to her, the company recorded some successes in key business areas in 2015.
