Stanbic IBTC’s half-year profit up 36% as non-interest income boosts earnings

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc reported for the first half of the year an increase of more than one-third in its after-tax of N30.7 billion compared to a year earlier, according to its audited financial statement issued Tuesday.

The local unit of Africa’s biggest bank by assets, Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group, posted an improvement of 45.2 per cent in gross earnings, which summed up to N134.9 billion, most of that provided by non-interest earnings.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings’s share price opened at N28 per unit in Lagos on Wednesday, its weakest level in 52 weeks, but had already appreciated by 8.93 per cent as early at 10:39 WAT in light of the remarkable result, trading close to the maximum 10 per cent upper limit allowed daily.

In a separate document, the board has announced an interim dividend of N1.50 per unit, a half more than what it paid for the same period last year.

Net interest income leapt 53.1 per cent to N50.4 billion, while non-interest revenue climbed higher to N63 billion.

Trading income, which the financial services group earned from investment in fixed income securities and currencies, jumped nearly two times to N16.5 billion.

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Through its pension subsidiary Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, the group controls the lion’s share of the pension market in Nigeria. It is on track to set up a fintech unit, with approval awaited from industry watchdogs.

Pre-tax profit for the period under review stood at N40 billion, improving by over three-fifths.

Profit after tax enlarged by 36 per cent to N30.7 billion.

To cover impaired loans, whose likelihood of repayment has been hampered by recurrent default, Stanbic IBTC set aside over three times the amount it allocated for that end a year ago, raising concerns that the independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers also noted in its report.