Access Bank grows Q2-2018 profit after tax by 84%

In Q2-2018, ACCESS bank successfully grew its profit after tax by approximately 84% from 28.18 million in Q2-2017 to GHS 52.05 million. Growth in its earnings was spurred by an increase in net interest income and non-interest income. ACCESS bank’s net interest income grew to GHS 100.96 million in Q2-2018 from GHS 88.33 million in Q2-2017. The bank’s non-interest income increased to GHS 60.49 million in Q2-2018 from GHS 31.64 million in Q2-2017. Its earnings per share rose from GHS 0.24 in Q2-2017 to GHS 0.44 in Q2-2018.

The bank’s cost efficiency improved with its cost-to-income ratio falling to 48% in Q2-2018 from 65% in Q2-2017. In terms of asset quality, the bank’s non-performing loan ratio (NPLR) increased to 35.67% in Q2-2018 from 32.31% in Q2-2017. ACCESS bank’s NPLR is high compared to the industry average of 22.60% reported by the central bank for this period. Loans and advances to customers shrunk by 5.73% in Q2-2018 from GHS 877.68 million in Q2-2017 to GHS 827.42 million. It is expected that the bank will continue to improve upon its efforts to recover past due and non-performing loans whiles strengthening existing risk management systems to lower its credit risk. The bank also saw its capital adequacy ratio fall to 12.56% in Q2-2018 from 13.29% in Q2-2017.

In terms of share price performance, ACCESS so far this year has not made appreciable gains on the local bourse. As at the end of Monday’s trade ACCESS bank’s YTD return stood at -13.58%. Looking forward, it is expected that ACCESS will recover from the decline in its share price as it continues to report growth in its quarterly earnings.

The Composite index lost 1.86 points to peg at a YTD return of 14.01% at the end of trade on Monday. The Financial stocks index, on the other hand, gained 0.54 points to peg at a YTD return of 18.33%. There were 2 gainers [PBC & GCB] and 1 loser [GOIL] at the end of trading activity on Monday.  PBC topped the charts in terms of volumes as 85,800 shares worth GHS 3,432 changed hands.

On the Ghana Alternative Market

Trading activity on the Ghana Alternative market was hushed as no shares changed hands.

On the Currency market

The Cedi appreciated marginally against the Dollar but lost to the British Pound and the Euro at the end of trade on Monday. The local currency exchanged at a mid-rate of GHS 4.7134 to the USD, GHS 6.0166 to the GBP and GHS 5.3918 to the EURO. The GCFM Cedi index, a measure of the holistic performance of the Cedi on the interbank market now records a year-to-date depreciation of 4.19%.

View the Access Bank Ghana page

Read complete article: Amansan Television