ETI’s 9-month profit plunges by 87% as impairment losses limit gains

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has announced an 87% fall in profit after tax for the nine-month period to September 2020 as impairment losses and other losses incurred in the course of doing business hurt gains.

“The COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted some sectors of the economy… In terms of reduced volume of economic activities, this has translated into lower revenue for some of our subsidiaries,” Lome-based ETI said in its audited financial statements for the review period, published by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday.

“In addition, regulators have restricted dividend payment from affiliates and management fees in some cases. The impact of dividends and management fees is zero at the level of the consolidated income statement.”

Gross earnings grew by 0.4% to N613.145 billion up from N610.866 billion.

Net interest income was N255.034 billion, 30% bigger than the N195.449 billion reported in the corresponding period of last year.

Read also: Ecobank arraigned for $50,000, N9.2m alleged fraud, converting customer’s funds

ETI’s non-interest revenue, nevertheless, fell from N227.160 billion to N206.129 billion, signalling a 9% drop.

Profit before tax declined by 68% to N34.498 billion from N109.486 billion.

After-tax profit stood at N10.285 billion, 87% lower than the N78.838 billion recorded in the same period of 2019.

Profit was significantly hampered by a rise in impairment losses on financial assets by 89% to N61.489 billion.

Also hurting the bottom-line of ETI were net monetary loss from hyperinflationary economy of N12.391 billion and goodwill impairment of N60.584 billion.

Total equity rose by 3% to N708.617 billion from N687.743 billion.

The earnings per share of ETI are currently $0.01 while the price-to-earnings ratio is 2.20.

ETI, which operates in 36 African nations, could have the less-than-impressive performance erode its share value across the continent as markets react to the earnings release.

Shares in the company opened trade on the NSE at N5.75 per unit and was down 9.32% to N5.35 at 12:49 pm.

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