March 19, (THEWILL) – Access Bank Plc has released its 2021 full-year financial result, which revealed a profit after tax (PAT) of N160 billion in 2021.
This reflects a 51.13 percent increase, against the N106 billion recorded in the preceding year.
The bank also reported earnings per share of N4.58, a 52.16 percent growth from the N3.01 reported in 2020.
By this report, the Tier-1 lender has grown its profits by 167 percent in 4 years since hitting N60 billion in 2017, with the profit now touching N160 billion.
A statement by the bank revealed that net interest income grew by 14.64 percent from N262.95 billion in 2020 to N301.46 billion in the current period.
Access Bank’s profit performance is on the back of all margin growth as income from interest, trading income and fees and commission income all appreciated year-on-year.
The top lender earned N601.70 billion, from its lending business as interest income grew by 22.99 percent from N489.22 billion, while net interest income after impairments still appreciated by 9.09 percent to stand at N218.25 billion
This is despite a 32.3 percent spike in loan losses, reflecting resilience and aggressive pursuit of deposits.
The bank revealed that its income from commission and fees rose 36.40 percent to N159.18 billion year-on-year.
It also generated a total of N166.10 billion in trading income on securities representing an impressive 423.35 percent increase during the period.
The bank’s e-banking income raked in N66.28 billion, representing an 18 percent growth from N56.09 billion in 2020.
In addition, the group also grew its deposits from customers by 24.47 percent to N6.95 trillion, while its total assets have soared to N11.73 trillion, more than twice the bank’s total assets in 2018.
The bank’s Board of Directors have proposed a final dividend of N0.70 per share, to be paid on each of the 35,545,225,622 issued ordinary shares and payable to shareholders on the register of shareholding at the closure date.
The company had earlier paid an interim dividend of N0.30 kobo in September 2021, bringing the total dividend for the financial year to N1.00.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
