UBA Posts N9.65bn Loss

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has announced a loss after tax of N9.65 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2011.

Reports say that this was against a profit after tax of N596 million posted in 2010.

The bank, in an audited result released last week by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), said that its loss before tax stood at N28.49 billion in 2011..

This is against a profit before tax of N3.22 billion declared in the previous year.

The bank, however, recorded a marginal growth of 4.1 per cent in its gross earnings which stood at N184.83 billion as against N177.57 billion in 2010.

Its fixed assets dropped to N52.85 billion in contrast to the N69.16 billion posted in the previous year, while its net assets stood at N170.03 billion from N179.43 billion in 2010.

The Tide source reports that because of the unimpressive result, the bank only declared a bonus of one new share for every 50 shares already held by the shareholders.

In the report, Mr Ugo Nwaghodoh, Chief Finance Officer of the bank, said that 2011 financial results were moderated by “provisioning and write offs”.

He said that the “write offs” were necessary to leave the bank with a healthy balance sheet which the shareholders would be proud of in future.

“Having put the past behind us, the outlook is very positive for the bank with increasing contributions from our operations in Africa,’’ Nwaghodoh said.