FCMB Group’s full-year profit rises 6.5%

FCMB Group reported a 6.5 per cent jump in post-tax profit for full year 2021 over its figure for the preceding year, according to the unaudited earnings report of the financial services group issued Wednesday.

Its shares climbed 1.33 per cent to N3.04 per unit in Lagos following the news.

Gross earnings rose 4.6 per cent to N208.5 billion from a year earlier on the back of moderate improvement in interest income as well as fees and commission income, the holdco’s two major income sources.

Net fees and commission income advanced by 42.8 per cent, which helped soften the blow of a depressed net interest income on earnings.

However a notable surge in operating costs like general and administrative expenses and other operating expenses moderated the impact of higher earnings on profit.

Pre-tax profit came to N23.9 billion, up from N21.9 billion, while profit after tax increased to N20.9 billion from N19.6 billion.

Profit margin, which measures how much of revenue has turned to profit, stood at 10 per cent.

Last July, FCMB Group purchased the majority stake in AIICO Pensions to strengthen its own pension subsidiary, FCMB Pensions Limited.