Fidelity Bank Plc has announced an impressive growth in Profit Before Tax to N52 billion for the Full Year 2022. This was made known in the Bank’s unaudited statement of account presented to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
According to the regulatory filing, the bank grew Gross Earnings by 33.9% to N335.897 billion (from N250.774 billion in FY 2021) and Net Interest Income by 61.1% to N152.813 billion (from N94.877 billion in FY 2021) leading to a Profit After Tax of N47.163billion for FY 2022 (from N35.579billion in FY 2021).
Similarly, Total Assets for the Bank presently grew to N3.9 trillion from N3.28 trillion in FY 2021) and Deposit from Customers is now at N2.591 trillion from N2.024 trillion in FY 2021.
Analysts posited that this is yet another strong showing for the tier-one bank having sustained impressive performance year-on-year even in the face of the headwinds in the economy.
Despite growing its Gross Earnings at an impressive rate, the bank has managed to record one of the lowest Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratios in the Nigerian banking industry,
The growth in profits was due to the increase in gross earnings despite inflationary pressure and depreciation of the naira contributing to the Gross Earnings which increased during the period by 33.9% to stand at N335.897 billion.
In retrospect, shares of Fidelity Bank Plc were among some of analysts’ top picks for 2022, between January 1 and April 6, 2022. By the close of trading for the year on December 30, 2022, Fidelity Bank shares had outperformed the market.
The bank’s share price gained 70.6% YTD, ranking it 13th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance and the 8th most traded stock over the past three months, justifying analysts’ BUY rating given to the stock at the beginning of the year.
The bank also has been able to sustain its upward earnings growth trajectory having grown its earnings by 17.2% over the past 5 years as of January 2023.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
