Analysts at FBNQuest Capital, in an emailed note, said the 22 per cent growth in pretax profit put the bank on track to meeting its full year target of N210bn. They said, “Revenue growth was mixed: funding income grew by 36 per cent year-on-year while non-interest income fell -10 per cent y/y. Notwithstanding, total revenues grew by a healthy 22 per cent y/y and helped to offset a 33 per cent y/y rise in operating expenditure. As such, we choose not to place too much emphasis on the separate revenue lines, but the total revenue instead which was in line with our forecast. With government yields continuing to trend down, loan growth will have to pick up substantially over the coming quarters.”Copyright PUNCH.

Source: Punch April 20, 2018 00:11 UTC