Ecobank Group CEO, Ade Ayeyemi, Attributes Impressive H1 Performance to “Resilience” as Profit Increases by 20%

Ecobank Group’s financial statements for the first two quarters of the year have shown that the company generated net revenue of $825 million, indicative of a 7% increase when compared to $771 million which was reported during the comparable period in 2020.

In the same vein, Ecobank Group saw its profit before tax grow by 23% to $210 million, even as profit after tax also increased by 20% to $154 million, up from $129 million in H1 2020. These positive financial indicators were all due to certain factors such as improved credit quality and efficiency gains.

While commenting on the financial performance, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ade Ayeyemi, said Ecobank Group showed resilience amid the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic which threatened economic recovery in the regions where the group currently operate. Said resilience was attributed to the diversified nature of the company’s business model, among other factors.

“We saw continued and sustained resilience in our performance, which is indicative of the success of our ‘execution momentum’ drive. As a result, we generated a return on tangible equity of 16.1% versus 15.2% a year ago and increased diluted EPS and tangible book value per share by 19% and 6%, respectively. In addition, profit before tax increased 23% to $210 million.

“I am proud of the team’s hard work in driving efficiency, which continues to reflect in our cost-to-income ratio of 58.7% ahead of guidance and progressing well toward our medium-term goal of approximately 55%. In addition, credit quality continued to be exceptionally strong. As a result, our NPL ratio of 7.4% is a substantial improvement from the prior year’s 9.8%, as we also build reserves to insulate the balance sheet with an NPL coverage ratio of 86.7% and pushing towards our nearterm target of 90%,” Ayeyemi said.

Note that Ecobank Group is a Pan-African financial institution with operations in Nigeria, Francophone West Africa, Anglophone West Africa as well as Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.