Zenith Bank Plc has announced its unaudited results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, recording impressive double-digit growth of 20 per cent in gross earnings from NGN518.7 billion reported in Q3 2021 to NGN620.6 billion in Q3 2022. This performance demonstrates the Group’s resilience against a challenging macroeconomic environment.
According to the unaudited account presented to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), the growth in the topline was driven by interest and non-interest income growth. Interest income grew by 27 per cent from NGN308.8 billion to NGN390.8 billion, driven majorly by growth in risk assets and an improvement in pricing. This also strengthened Earnings Per Share (EPS) by 9 percent to NGN5.55billion.
The double-digit growth in the bank’s topline also aided the bottom line, as the Group also recorded a 13 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in profit before tax, growing from NGN179.8 billion in Q3 2021 to NGN202.5 billion in Q3 2022.
Profit after tax equally grew by 9percent from NGN160.6 billion to NGN174.3 billion in the same period.
Growth in non-interest income was enabled by the Group’s retail strategy, with continued substantial customer acquisition driving transactions, deposit growth and growth in electronic banking income.
Due to inflationary pressure and the rising cost of doing business, operating costs grew by 17 percent. However, this was below the growth in gross earnings (20%), thereby facilitating the double-digit growth in the bottom line.
The continuing elevated yield environment affected the cost of funding which increased from 1.4 percent to 1.7 percent in the current period. This affected the net interest margin (NIM), which dropped due to the immediate implementation of higher yields on interest-bearing liabilities. However, the NIM is expected to see a correction in subsequent quarters as the assets side is repriced correspondingly.
Total assets grew by 20 percent from NGN9.45 trillion to NGN11.34 trillion in 2022, mainly driven by growth in customers’ deposits. Customer deposits grew by 24% from NGN6.47 trillion in December 2021 to NGN8.04 trillion in September 2022 due to the market’s confidence in the brand.
Loans and advances also grew by 16 percent from NGN3.5 trillion in December 2021 to NGN4.06 trillion in September 2022, boosting the Group’s interest income and displaying the Group’s appetite for high-yielding risk assets creation.