ZENITH BANK POSTS N46.7BN NET PROFIT IN Q2

Zenith Bank Plc has released its half-year 2014 results, declaring a profit after tax of N46.669bn for the bank.

The bank's PAT for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 is 18.13 per cent higher than the N39.508bn it declared for the same period of 2013.

The result, which the bank filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, showed that it grew its profit before tax by 19.67 per cent to N55.575bn from the N46.422bn it recorded in the first half of 2013.

According to the result, the bank's gross earnings at N174.569bn for the half-year period under review is 14.21 per cent higher than the N152.843bn it realised in the same period of last year.

The bank's total assets for the period stood at N2.879tn, 11.03 per cent higher than the figure for the corresponding period of 2013, which was N2.593tn.

Zenith Bank Plc's consolidated financial statements for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 showed that the group grew its gross earnings by 7.84 per cent to N184.434bn when compared to the N171.024bn it posted for the same period of 2013.

Like the bank, the group's profit before tax and profit after tax also appreciated.

While profit before tax was up by 11.08 per cent from N52.090bn to N57.859bn, the group's profit after tax rose by 8.25 per cent to N47.445bn from N43.826bn.

Also, the group's total assets rose by 15.21 per cent from N2.781tn to N3.204tn, the result showed.

The consolidated and separate interim financial statements for the bank and subsidiary companies of Zenith Bank Plc were signed by the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Amangbo, and Executive Director, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu.

The bank had in the 2013 financial year grown its profit before tax by 8.3 per cent from N102bn at the end of the 2012 financial year, to N110bn; while its gross earnings also rose by 14.5 per cent to N351bn, up from N307bn recorded the previous year.

The result also showed that net assets rose by 10 per cent from N462bn at the end of 2012, to N509bn in the year under review.

In March, the bank announced it would pay a dividend of N1.75 per share to its shareholders for the 2013 financial year.

A month later, in April, it announced that it recorded 200 per cent over-subscription of its $500m Eurobond issue.

The $500m Eurobond is under a $1bn Global Medium Term Note programme announced by the bank on April 1, 2014.

The bank had said in a statement that its weeklong investors' roadshow, co-ordinated by Goldman Sachs and Citibank, had received an overwhelming endorsement by a diversified group of global investors from Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Zenith said in a statement.

According to the statement, investor's perception of Zenith's domestic market leadership and its strong balance sheet defined by its liquidity, asset quality and capital adequacy are among the major factors driving the overwhelming acceptance of the bank's first ever debt issue.