Pan-African financial and investment services group United Capital has announced a 61 per cent growth in its gross earnings to N28.17bn at the end of the third quarter from N17.51bn in the corresponding period of 2023.
The firm’s profit before tax rose by 93 per cent year-on-year to N18.73bn, as profit after tax grew by 89 per cent year-on-year to N15.98bn.
That was disclosed in its unaudited results for Q3 2024 filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday.
United Capital was the lead issuing house for Nigeria’s first-ever Domestic FGN US Dollar Bond, raising over $900m and achieving an outstanding 180 per cent subscription rate.
Commenting on the group’s performance, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Peter Ashade, said, “United Capital Group recorded an impressive performance in Q3 2024 despite the challenging and uncertain business environment characterised by rising inflationary trend, volatile currency exchange rate amid the fast-changing macroeconomic landscape. Our performance is a testament to the resilience of our business model, strong risk management culture and effective execution of our well-crafted strategies.
“The group delivered gross earnings of N28.17bn with 61 per year-on-year growth; shareholders’ value improved by 27 per cent from N90.71bn to N115.03bn.
“In September, we successfully led the historic issuance of Nigeria’s first-ever domestic FGN US dollar bond, raising over $900m and achieving an outstanding 180 per cent subscription rate. Through our focused business development initiative, we launched UCee Microfinance Bank, making the business our seventh subsidiary.”
For the last quarter of the year, Ashade affirmed, “We are determined to sustain this performance with a focus on delivering superior value to our shareholders. We remain committed to our vision of being the leading investment and finance hub across Africa, deploying innovation and technology to exceed client expectations.”
The company’s gross earnings growth was largely driven by growth in fee and commission income (+83 per cent year-on-year), net trading income (+154 per cent year-on-year) and other income (+564 per cent year-on-year).
Total assets rose by 36 per cent year-to-date to N1.26tn in September 2024 compared to N931.95bn in December 2023, driven by 199 per cent growth in cash and cash equivalents during the period.
Also, the total liabilities increased by 37 per cent year-to-date to N1.15tn during the period under review compared to N841.23bn in December 2023 due to 28 cent year-to-date growth in managed funds and 59 per cent year-to-date growth in borrowed funds.