One of Nigeria’s leading tier-1 lenders, Zenith Bank Plc on Thursday, 3rd of September 2020, published its Q2 2020 Unaudited results for the period ended June 30th, 2020.
From the result, Zenith Bank increased its gross earnings to N346.1 billion from N331.6 billion as interest income rose to N217.0 billion from N214.6 billion, while its Profit After Tax (PAT) grew by 16.8% to N103.8bn from N88.9 billion in the previous quarter, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Zenith Bank had a profit before tax of N114.1 billion, higher than the N111.7 billion declared in the first half of 2019.
Key metrics
- Gross Earnings grew by 4.4% to N346bn from N332bn in the previous quarter.
- Profit before tax grew by 2.2% to N114bn.
- Profit after tax grew by 16.8% to N103.8bn.
- Net Assets grew by 5% from N942bn to N989bn.
The lender proposed an interim dividend of 30 kobo per share for the first half of 2020 ended June 30.
Zenith Bank’s interest expense reduced to N59.6 billion from N72.1 billion, and the net interest income at N157.4 billion versus N142.5 billion in the first half of 2019. The rises in interest income were buoyed by loans and advances to customers and investment in government and other bonds.
Zenith Bank recorded N133.5 billion as net interest income after impairment loss on financial and non-financial instruments, higher than the N128.8 billion at the same time last year.
Despite the disruption of economic activities by the Covid-19 pandemic in most of the H1’20 period, the bank said personnel expenses gulped N38.9 billion in H1 2020 in contrast to N38.7 billion in H1 2019 as a result of the increase in salaries and wages.
Also, a higher AMCON levy, information technology, fuel and maintenance, donations and others pushed its operating expenses up to N82.7 billion from N76.8 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) jumped to N3.30 from N2.83.
