Union Bank of Nigeria Plc made a profit after tax of N11.3bn in the half-year period ended June 30, 2013, a statement from the bank has said.
The bank, which released its results for the first six months of 2013 on Thursday, said the figure represented a 52 per cent increase from the N7.5bn it reported for the same period in 2012.
A statement by the bank’s Head, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Francis Barde, said it recorded the gross earnings of N48.1bn in the period under review, up by five per cent from N46.0bn made in the same period in 2012; while the group earned gross earnings of N56.2bn.
It added that the bank’s profit before tax was N11.6bn for the first half of 2013, indicating a 54 per cent rise from what it made in the first half of 2012, while group profit before tax was N9.8bn. Group profit after tax was N9.4bn.
The Group Managing Director, Union Bank, Mr. EmekaEmuwa, was quoted as saying, “In the second quarter of 2013, Union Bank stayed the course of profitability. We are pleased with this continued profitability as we manage the many elements of our transformation programme and work hard towards achieving our goal of building a reliable, customer-focused institution.”
The Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. OyinkanAdewale, said the second quarter profitability was due to a combination of cost management measures and certain non-recurring items.
Meanwhile, the rally in the equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued on Thursday with major indices closing positive.
The market capitalisation of the listed equities gained N119bn or 0.99 per cent from N12.007tn on Wednesday, to close at N12.126tn.
The NSE’s All-Share Index was also up by 0.99 per cent or 377.74 basis points to close at 38,292.07 points, up from 37,914.33 points recorded the previous day.
A total of 38 stocks appreciated, while 19 lost as investors staked N3.489bn on 239.509 million shares in 5,590 deals.
