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GT Bank FY 2018 Results - Net Interest Income Down 10% YoY

Stock & Analyst Updates	3228 VIEWS
Stock & Analyst Updates
3228 VIEWS

Thursday, March 07, 2019 03:50 PM / Coronation Research/ Image Credit: Thisday

Ø GT Bank published FY 2018 results today after market close. Net profits came in 1% below our expectations and in line with market expectations. Net Income was up 10% y/y to N184.6bn (US$513m).
Ø GT Bank proposes a total dividend of N2.75/s which (inclusive of an earlier interim dividend of N0.30/s) translates to a total gross dividend yield of 6.0% (the current 1-year T-bill yield is 15.02%).
Ø We maintain our Hold recommendation.

Net interest income was down 10% y/y due to a combination of 13.1% lower loan balances and the net interest margins which declined to 10.8% (2017: 11.4%).

Fee income was strong, up 24% y/y, largely on account of a strong growth in electronic business income (+28.3% y/y) and commission on foreign exchange deals (+81.5%y/y). We have some questions about the sustainability of this line.

Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

Asset quality has gradually improved with Non-performing loans (NPL) trending down from 7.66% at FY 2017 to 5.67% at FY 2018, approaching the prudential thresholds of 5.00%. Loan loss provisions were also down 60% y/y relative to FY 2017.

Expenses ticked up by 1% y/y, as the bank was able to manage its costs through a significant reduction in finance costs and communication expenses. This increase was sub-inflationary. The average level of inflation in 2018 was 12.15%.

The bank reported 9% growth in pre-tax profits and 10% growth in net profits.

GT Bank is well-known for being highly profitable and efficient, the bank's return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) profitability metrics came in at 30.9% and 4.4%, respectively, one of the highest in Nigerian banking industry. GT Bank has also paid an increasing quantity of dividend to its shareholders y/y. Consistency is the key point of comfort for us with GT Bank.

Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

With a total capital adequacy ratio of 22.5% at FY 2018, the bank remains in a strong capital position compared with the regulatory minimum of 16% despite the adjustment for the full impact of IFRS 9. This provides the bank latitude to grow its risk assets in 2019, and in turn improve its interest income. However, given continued slow economic development, we think the prospects for loan growth are moderate at best. We are looking for 11.0% nominal loan growth in 2019.

We have a price target of N35.0/s for GT Bank and given the potential downside relative to current price of N37.95/s, we maintain our Hold rating on the stock