The streak of impressive performance by the Bank in three successive quarters and its generous reward for the shareholders in the last financial year aroused curiosity on whether it could sustain its fast pace growth. So, when the Bank’s First and Half year results were released, the market was convinced that what was propelling the performance of the Bank was solid enough to withstand market vagaries and firmly rooted in sound banking practices.

Expectedly, the Bank outperformed market expectations in its first quarter by growing its Gross Earnings to N9 billion. Profit Before Tax rose to N4.02 from =N=1.57 billion. Half year PBT also rose to =N=8.11billion from =N=2.83billion. Operating with a Shareholders Funds of =N=35.80billion, it recorded =N=11.04billion Profit Before Tax (PBT) in its Third Quarter ending December 2007. The performance amounted to 207 % increase from the =N=3.59billion it recorded in the previous year.

It also recorded significant increases in other fundamentals. Total Assets grew by 82% from =N=122.72billion to =N=223.10billion, Gross earnings from =N=14.67billion to =N=29.31billion while Shareholders Funds rose to =N=35.80billion from =N=29.50billion between December 2006 and December 2007.

With the progressive score card in the first nine months of the accounting years, Afribank has thus set the tone for a good financial year come March 2008. The Third quarter result further confirmed the rating of the bank as an institution that has clear market understanding and implements profitable business strategy.

Analysts praised the Management of Afribank for the efficient utilization of its =N=35billion Shareholders Funds to achieve a level of performance comparative with financial institutions that have far higher Shareholders Funds. They stressed that with the expected re-capitalization to =N=135billion, Afribank presents huge potentials that would make it post above industry returns and offer adequate rewards to shareholders in the years ahead.

The Third Quarter performance confirmed the effectiveness of strategies being implemented              by the Bank. The Bank has succeeded in sustaining its general positive outlook as it progressively grew the profit before tax from  =N=4.02billion in the first quarter to =N=11.040billion in the third quarter. Analysis shows that the profit margin (the efficiency ratio that measures how well a company is able to translate turnover into profit) for the third quarter in 2007 was about 37.5 per cent, meaning that every N100 worth of income generated resulted into a pre-tax profit of N37.50.

Keen watchers of Afribank are not surprised by the rapid rising profile of the Bank in the last two years. The Bank, through market focused strategies and elaborate business plan, repositioned its operations for peak performance in all areas. The Gross earnings potentials of the Bank have been fully unleashed with a view to capturing more market share. Consequently, the Bank has developed markets in diverse areas, private and public sectors, which has given it competitive edge.

The Bank has continued to make in-roads into the public sector by partnering with government agencies for business relationship. Recently, the Bank partnered the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for e-service, established one stop e-service centre, introduced eNational Youth Service Corps (eNYSC), partnered MoneyGram for international money transfer, financed Computer for all Initiative in Nigeria (CaNI) through the provision of computers for state government civil servants among others. All these enhanced the income generation capacity of the Bank and were responsible for the phenomenal growth in earnings of the Bank in the current financial year.

New business locations were being opened country-wide to widen the scope of its funds mobilization, enlarge its customer base and improve income

generation. The Bank offers efficient services at competitive rates.

The Bank also streamlined its operations, engaged in cost effectiveness and empowered the workforce for higher productivity. It combined this with sound deployment of assets to yield good returns. Selective investment opportunities were also under-taken while it also positioned itself for strong partnership with the government at all levels in the implementation of economic and social programmes.

Source: Afribank Nigeria Plc’s 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd quarter reports