By Alex C
Skye Bank Plc has announced its third quarter (Q3) result with moderate growth in some performance indices. It recorded a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N12.3 billion during the period which represents a quarter-on-quarter growth of 33 percent.
With gross earnings of N97.1 billion, the bank was able to reduce its interest expense by 15 percent year-on-year to close at N30.3 billion compared to N35.7 billion as at September 2013. This is in line with its operational strategy of increasing the volume of low cost funds in its deposit portfolio.
The bank closed with a year-to-date net loans and advances balance of N576 billion showing a 6 percent increase year-on-year. Similarly, customer deposits grew to N801.7 billion as against N726.8 billion of the previous year while asset size remained strong at N1.1 trillion with a 3 percent year-on-year growth.
The bank said barring any unforeseen circumstances, the growth pattern would be improved on in the remaining period of the financial year.
“Our loan impairment charge increased by 62 percent year-on-year to N7.5 billion, being a deliberate policy of aggressive provisioning early in the year to enable a fairly sustained position and avoid high concentration in the last quarter of the year. Non-interest income improved by 15 percent YoY to N17.6 billion compared to N15.2 billion of the corresponding period in 2013.
“The deliberate focus on cost reduction organisation-wide also paid off with a YoY reduction of 1 percent, in operating expenses which closed at N46.9 billion as against N47.2 billion in September 2013, despite the additional N4 billion increase in personnel cost during the year. This translated to profit before tax of N12.3 billion”, the bank said.