The Bank’s total assets grew significantly by 19.7 percent to N4.9 trillion for the year under review.
According to the bank’s filing at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the bank was able to overcome the challenging business environments in Nigeria and across key markets in Africa, posting a Profit Before Tax of N106.8 billion, a 2.4 percent growth over N104.2 billion in 2017 financial year.
The Profit After Tax rose by 1.4 percent to N78.6 billion as against N77.5 billion recorded in 2017.
It noted that lower foreign exchange trading income resulted in operating expenses growing by 4.1 percent to N197.3 billion, compared to N189.7 billion in 2017.
Reacting to the result, the Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, noted that the year 2018 was important for the Group as it gained further market share in many countries of operation.
The report by Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper on Thursday stated that Uzoka was excited at strategic achievements made in the year, including the start of wholesale banking operations in London, as it seeks to leverage the Group’s unique network across Africa.
UBA also opened its 20th African operation.
“Defying the relatively weak economic growth in Africa, earnings were positive and we grew our balance sheet by 20 percent, driven by the 23 percent growth in our deposit funding.
“In a period of economic uncertainty, we have focused on retail deposit mobilization, with exciting results. We recorded a 48 percent year-on-year growth in retail deposits,” Uzoka said.
($1=N305)