Fidelity Bank Plc on Wednesday released it audited report for the half year, which ended June 30, 2017 posting an increase of 22 per cent in it gross earnings and 66.7 per cent rise in its profit before tax in the six months period.
The bank’s result released on the Nigeria Stock Exchange showed that its profit after tax rose by 65.6 per cent from N5.45 billion to N9.036 billion during the first half of the year.
Its gross earnings grew year on year to N85.82 billion from N70.259 billion.
The improvement in the bank’s earnings was driven by N2.55 billion net foreign exchange gain which grew its other income to N3.56 billion and 27.8 per cent rise in interest income.
Fidelity Bank’s interest income at the end of the 2017 first half was N72.85 billion compared with N57 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2016.
Interest expense likewise rose by 48 per cent during the half year period to N38.15 billion from last year’s figure of N25.77 billion.
Provisioning for loan losses rose slightly by 0.3 per cent during the period under review from N4.79 billion to N4.81 billion.
The bank showed prudency in its pending as operating expenses rose slightly by 3.7 per cent to N17.97 billion compared to N17.32 billion which it spent in the comparable period of 2016.
Personnel expenses on the other hand declined to N11.07 billion compared to N12.03 billion it spent in the first half of 2016.
Total assets of the bank was up slightly by 0.7 per cent rising to N1.30 trillion as at June 30, 2017 compared to N1.29 trillion which it stood at as at December 31, 2016 while total liabilities was up from N1.112 trillion to N1.116 trillion.
Despite a four per cent decline in its deposit base, the bank increased its lending to customers slightly by 0.2 per cent.
Deposit from customers dropped from N792.97 billion to N761 billion while loans and advances rose to N720.16 billion from N718.4 billion
