First Bank Grows Profit By 12.4 Percent

First Bank has disclosed its profit before tax rose by 12.4 percent to ₦147.0bn as of the end of 2022, from ₦130.9bn in the corresponding period of 2021.

It said its profit after tax rose by 9.8 percent to ₦129.4bn at the end of December 2022 from ₦117.8bn in the same period of 2021.

The bank disclosed this in its financial statement for the Group’ 2022 final year and 2023 first quarter results.

Commenting on the results, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank (Commercial Banking Group), Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said the Commercial Banking Group continued the strong performance trajectory from the 2021 results.

He said,“Another set of robust results for FY 2022 with gross earnings up 4.4 per cent year-on-year to ₦748.6bn and profit before tax of ₦147bn, recording a growth of 12.4 per cent year-on-year.

Total assets grew by 18.1 per cent year-on-year to ₦10.1tn despite the unprecedented macro-economic challenges and dynamic regulatory environment.

“The impressive growth in PBT was driven by a 58.3 per cent year-on-year growth in interest income from ₦255.7bn to ₦357.2bn arising from business growth and improved optimisation of our balance sheet. This is in keeping with our Quantum Profitability Leap agenda.”

On the first quarter of 2023 financial result, the statement said its profit before tax rose by 57.0 per cent y-o-y to ₦53.5bn as of the end of March 2022 to ₦34.1bn; while its profit after tax rose by 54.8 per cent to ₦48.0bn in Q1,2023 from ₦31.0bn in Q1,2022.

Speaking on Q1, Adeduntan, said, “The FirstBank Group delivered an impressive performance in Q1, 2023, with significant growth across key metrics.

“Gross earnings recorded a substantial increase of 44.2 per cent year-on-year, demonstrating the bank’s ability to generate substantial revenue from core operations.”