Investment bank United Capital reports 41% profit surge as half-year revenue hits N9.1 billion

United Capital’s revenue for the first half of the year rose to N9.1 billion after jump in earnings from fees & commission and other income, which alone enlarged by nearly 12 times the figure reported a year ago, the earnings report of the investment bank showed on Monday.

Revenue was three times bigger than the N6.9 billion per cent posted for the corresponding period of last year, according to the document seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Shares in the financial services firm had climbed up by 1.52 per cent as of 14:05 WAT on Lagos’s Custom Street after the news hit the market.

United Capital, which also manages fund, realised N681.4 million as exchange gains, a key driver of growth this time around for a company recorded no earnings from that income source in the first six months of 2021.

Its other services encompass trusteeship, security trading and wealth management.

In May, the group gained greater notability on the continent when London-based Financial Times named it among the 75 fastest growing African companies for 2022, one of the 20 from Nigeria. The list used compound annual growth in revenues between 2017 and 2020 as its principal parameter.

Total expenditure for the period came to N4.1 billion, 30.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Profit before income tax stood at N5.2 billion, up from N3.7 billion, while after-tax profit swelled by 41.2 per cent to N4.4 billion.

Formerly the asset management unit of Tony Elumelu-backed United Bank for Africa, United Capital currently has N530 billion as funds under management.

Net profit margin, a measure of how much of the company’s revenue has turned to profit, stood at 48.7 per cent.