FCMB Reports 92% Growth in Profit Before Tax of N6.6bn for Half Year 2011

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc has released its financial performance for the first half of the year ended June 30, 2011 with the bank group recording significant improvements across major lines of the income statement and stronger growth in the overall financial position.

The unaudited result for the six months released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, July 22, 2011 shows a N5.3 billion group Profit After Tax representing a 92 percent growth from the N2.8billion reported for the same period previous year.

A press statement issued by the bank said the growth was fuelled by a 58 percent growth in Net Interest Income and 30 percent growth in Operating Income between half year 2010 and half year 2011. According to the statement, Profit Before Taxation growth also compared favourably with half year 2010 where Profit Before Taxation was N3.5billion, representing a growth of 92 percent. Net Loan Loss Expense was N1.7billion as against Net Recovery of N2billion in the same period of the preceding year, while Gross Earnings grew 18 percent in half year 2011 to N35billion from N30billion in half year 2010.

The bank which also announced that Cost Income Ratio improved from 91 percent in H1 2010 to 66 percent in first half of 2011 said further improvement is expected on this in the third and last quarters of 2011. However, the group Operating Expenses grew marginally by 5 percent to N16.1billion in the first half of 2011 from N15.4billion for the same period in 2010.

Expenses however remained flat quarter-on-quarter. The bank also announced that Loan Quality remained largely unchanged with Non Performing Loans Ratio standing at 5.3 percent compared to 5.2 percent as at March 2011. The bank assured that barring any unforeseen circumstances, it expects all performance indicators to continue to improve during the course of the financial year.