FCMB Group Plc earns N20.1 billion in Profit Before Tax for FY 2019 and proposes a dividend of 14k per share..

LAGOS, NIGERIA – 31 March 2020: FCMB Group Plc (Bloomberg: FCMB) (“FCMB Group”) has announced its Group Results (containing the Bank’s Audited Results), for the nine-months ended 31 December 2019.

Financial Performance Highlights:

Earnings Analysis:

• Gross revenue of N188.0 billion for the full-year ended December 2019, was a 6% growth from N177.2 billion for the same period prior year
• Net interest income rose by 5% Year-on-Year (YoY) from N72.6 billion, for the twelve months of 2018, to N76.0 billion for the twelve months of 2019..
• Non-interest income of N32.9 billion, for the full year ended December 2019, a 17% decrease YoY, from N39.6 billion for the same period prior year, driven by one-off exceptional items, notably, FX revaluation gains..
• Net impairment loss on financial assets reduced by 3% YoY to N13.7 billion, for the twelve months of 2019, from N14.1 billion for the same period prior year.
• Operating expenses dropped 3% YoY and 42% QoQ to N76.9 billion (for the full year ended December 2019) and N13.7 billion (for the fourth quarter of 2019)
• Profit before tax (PBT) of N20.1 billion, for the twelve months of 2019, rose 9% YoY..

Financial Position:

• Loans and advances rose 12% QoQ to N715.9 billion in December 2019 (N638.1 billion in September 2019)..
• Total assets grew 10% QoQ at N1.67 trillion in December 2019 (N1.52 trillion in September 2019)
• Customer deposits rose by 9% to N943.1 billion in December 2019 (N863.4 billion in September 2019)
• Assets Under Management grew by 28.3% year on year to N403.1billion in December 2019

FY19 Key Ratios:

• Capital Adequacy Ratio – 17.17%.
• Liquidity Ratio – 32. 9%.
• Loan to Deposit Ratio – 58.7%.
• CBN Loan to Funding Ratio - 58.96%
• Non-Performing Loans (NPL) to Total Loans Ratio – 3.7%.
• Cost to Income Ratio – 69.4%.
• Net Interest Margin – 7.1%.
• Earnings per share – 87.16k.

Overall group performance :

FCMB Group’s post-tax profits increased by 16% to ₦17.3 billion, this translates to a return on average equity(RoAE) of 9% and earnings per share of 87.2 kobo, an improvement on 8.1% and 75.2 kobo respectively in 2018.

Our businesses continue to improve with growth in other key indicators such as loans and advances, deposits and assets under management (AUM), which grew by 13.1%, 14.8% and 28.3% respectively. Our customer base also grew by 27.7% across the Group from 5.3 million to 6.8 million. Overall customer satisfaction has shown positive trends, with a net promoter score of 31 in banking and 23 in asset management. Asset quality has continued to improve, with the Group-wide NPL ratio coming down to 3.7% from 5.9%. Similarly, capital adequacy ratio has remained stable at 17.2% for our Commercial and Retail Banking Group. We see room for improvement in the overall Group cost-to-income ratio, which sits at 69.4%. Efficiency gains will be a focus area in 2021.

Outlook :

The Outlook for 2020 is uncertain as the world and the country grapple with the twin challenges of a global pandemic and a sustained drop in oil prices. All indications are that the economy will remain challenged in 2020. However, we are seeing governments and the private sector come together to ensure the impact is minimised in many economies. It is our belief that Nigeria will be no exception. Certainly, FCMB is developing a comprehensive response for our employees, customers and our communities at large. We also believe that this period presents an opportunity to alter our working practices to reduce our carbon footprint and improve employee satisfaction through remote working and to accelerate the adoption of digital financial services for greater customer convenience. Our objectives for 2020 will be to keep people safe, keep business going and support those that will be affected by this pandemic.  

Conference Call & Webcast for Results

FCMB Group Plc (Bloomberg: FCMB) will be hosting a conference call and webcast for analysts and investors on Friday 3 April at 15.00 Lagos & London/ 10.00 New York/ 16.00 Johannesburg, with its senior and divisional management to review these Results and respond to questions from investors and analysts..

Please could you kindly note that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Telco carriers worldwide are currently experiencing an unprecedented demand, due to the increasing amount of people working remotely, thereby, putting pressure on the local carriers, creating some uncontrollable issues like dialling- in participants experiencing beeping tones, audio distortions or/ and line cut offs. Therefore, we strongly recommend that the webcast link, provided below, is used as the main source of listening to the call, and only those participants who plan to ask questions to dial in. Although, it’s also noteworthy that, via the webcast, participants will have the option to type and send us written questions, without the need to dial in.

The teleconference call facility can be accessed by dialling:

Lagos Access Number: +234 1 227 8971

UK Access Number: +44 (0) 844 481 9752

USA Access Number: +1 646 741 3167

South Africa Access Number: +27 105 002 178

And then entering the following confirmation code: 6156763

Participants will have to quote the above code when dialling into the conference call.

Participants can log on to the link for the webcast by going to the ‘Upcoming Events’ or ‘What’s New’ sections on FCMB’s Investor Relations homepage, which can be accessed by clicking on www.fcmbgroup.com/investor-relations

Webcast access on mobile devices - QR code:

Access the live and on-demand versions of the webcast from mobile devices running iOS and Android.

Participants should please register for the call/ log-on to the webcast at least five minutes before the start of the conference call.

The presentation and all other related documents, for the call, will be posted under the ‘What’s New’ section on FCMB’s Investor Relations homepage, which can be accessed by clicking on www.fcmbgroup.com/investor-relations from 13.00 (Lagos & London) on Tuesday 30 April.

For those who are unable to listen to the live call, the recording of the webcast will be available under ‘Financial Results – 2019’ by clicking on the ‘Financial Information’ tab on FCMB’s Investor Relations website, which can be accessed by clicking on www.fcmbgroup.com/investor-relations The webcast recording will be done in real-time, so it will be available as soon as the conference call & webcast begins at 15.00 (Lagos & London) on Tuesday 30 April.

For further information, please contact:

Ori Rewane: Head - Investor Relations, FCMB Group Plc

Tel: +234 (0) 1 279 30 30 and +234 (0) 1 279 30 33

Email: orighoye.rewane@fcmb.com

Kayode Adewuyi: Chief Financial Officer, FCMB Group Plc

Email: kayode.adewuyi@fcmb.com

OR institutionalinvestorrelations@fcmb.com

– ENDS –

Notes to editors:

About FCMB Group Plc

FCMB Group Plc is a bank-led financial services group, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, with operating companies divided along three business groups – Commercial and Retail Banking (First City Monument Bank Limited, Credit Direct Limited, FCMB (UK) Limited and FCMB Microfinance Bank Limited); Investment Banking (FCMB Capital Markets Limited and CSL Stockbrokers Limited); and Asset & Wealth Management (Legacy Pension Management Limited, First City Asset Management Limited and CSL Trustees Limited). Listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the ticker symbol (FCMB), FCMB Group Plc has 19,802,710,781 ordinary shares held by over 521,000 shareholders.

First City Monument Bank Limited, the flagship company, has approximately 3.7 million customers and 204 branches in Nigeria and a banking subsidiary in the United Kingdom through FCMB Bank (UK) Limited (which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the PRA in the United Kingdom).

More information can be found at www.fcmbgroupplc.com

FCMB Group Plc, First City Plaza, 44 Marina, Lagos, Nigeria.

Tel: +234 (0) 1 279 3030 and +234 (0) 1 279 30 33.