Business
Unity Bank’s Gross Earnings Hit N42.71bn in FY 2020, Posts Assets Growth of 67.90% to N492.02bn
Unity Bank Plc grew its assets base to N492.02 billion representing a significant increase of 67.90% from the N293.05 billion of total assets value recorded in 2019. This is even as the agric-focused lender declared gross earnings of N42.71 billion within the period under review.
A review of the Bank’s audited results for full year ended 31 December 2020, released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, showed that the Bank improved its bottom line marginally as Profit After Tax, PAT stood at N2.09 billion. Profit Before Tax, PBT closed at N2.22 billion, in a year that was defined by the unmitigated impact of global pandemic characterized by disruptions in business activities and general downturn that resulted in revenue/returns dip in major leading sectors globally.
The lender substantially grew its customers’ deposit portfolio to N356.62 billion, up from N257.69 billion in the corresponding period of 2019, representing a 38.4% growth. This affirms positive market uptake of the Bank’s product offerings, as well as the lender’s growing customer base to its recent aggressive push with agile customer-centric products, which has played a role in deepening financial services penetration especially to a wider world, underserved spectrum of the retail market.
Other major highlight of the audited financial statement relates to growth in its net operating income which rose to N25.46 billion from N23.21 billion in the corresponding period of 2019, representing a 9.71% increase. This is even as the net interest income recorded a significant jump, as it rose by 7.60% to N17.75 billion from N16.49 billion in the corresponding period of 2019. Earnings per Share closed at 17.85 Kobo.
The Bank’s gross loans portfolio increased by 92.9% to N206.2 billion in December 2020 from N106.9 billion in December 2019. The Bank’s lending strategy was specially tailored to support the nation’s food agenda. This had the added advantage of improving food security across the country, providing employment to thousands of youths and entrepreneurs, contributing to the conservation of FX stocks and mitigating security challenges by ensuring adequate empowerment of citizens and deepening skills acquisition across the value chain.
Commenting on the result, Unity Bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Tomi Somefun stated that the results showed the resilience of the Bank during unprecedented times of uncertainties and our ability to innovate and focus on key balance sheet items that will enable us maintain growth trajectory.
She further opined that: “Consequently, for the year under review, the opportunities to significantly create more quality assets for the business, thought to have sustainable impact, informed part of choices made and we have seen some encouraging market uptake in this regard, apart from the benefits to the enterprise bottom-line that have also started trickling in. Other key performance indicators especially on the liability side of the business was equally not left out. The Bank deployed new product features and augmentation supported by omni-channel, USSD promotions and other channels to enhance services delivery efficiency, drive income generation capacities and enhance steady balance sheet growth for the year”.
Looking ahead, Somefun stated: “we will latch on targeted strategies to deploy significant investment in technology in order to ride the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the back of this, the Bank focus on achieving major efficiency gains, deepening its retail footprints and penetrating identified cluster market segments, as bulwarks to tapping into various youth markets platforms, in addition to the mass market would get further boost”
While laying outlook for the future, the Unity Bank’s Chief further stated:
“The Bank is also looking to consolidate on the gains from its core business areas and niche in the agribusiness sector. The Bank has solidly financed over one million farmers over the past three years. These farmers cut across several primary crop production such as rice, maize, cotton, wheat, sorghum, etc coupled with their rich value chains, and we hope to continue to expand on this as we play our part in driving the country’s quest for self-sufficiency in food production.”
Analysts are of the view that having made appreciable impact in the agribusiness and its value chains consistently, the market is excited that the current year performance and different initiatives of the Bank show that the agribusiness is bankable not only as a differential positioning but also for sustainable business performance and profitability.
As part of activities to mark its 75th anniversary, Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has teamed up with Mastercard to introduce a special commemorative Debit Card.
This exclusive card offers UBA customers exciting deals and attractive discounts across multiple platforms, enhancing their banking experience in a memorable way.
The commemorative card which was unveiled at the bank’s corporate head office in Marina, Lagos, on Wednesday, is a custom-built card created with the intention of appreciating customers and other users for their loyalty throughout the seven and half decades of impactful journey.
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, who spoke at the unveiling, emphasised that the card, comes loaded with irresistible benefits aimed at impressing customers, including 25% off purchases on Jumia and $75 cashback on transactions made through AliExpress.
This according to him, symbolizes the shared vision between UBA and Mastercard towards empowering Africans by enhancing customer experience through secure and convenient transactions.
He said, “This new card represents the deepening of our relationship and our shared mission to empower millions of Nigerians and Africans, providing them with access to secure transactions and new opportunities across the continent.
The GMD also disclosed the bank’s plans to unveil similar products across all its subsidiaries, adding, “We are proud of this collaboration, and we are confident that Mastercard’s role in Africa will only grow stronger in the coming years.”
The President, Africa, Mastercard, Mark Elliot, who expressed gratitude to the management of the bank on the partnership, emphasised the importance and potential of the partnership with UBA.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with UBA, which we know is one of the best banks in Africa. For us, it is a privilege to work with a partner that shares our commitment towards digitizing the continent and enhancing customer experience through secure and convenient transactions.”
Elliot who noted the immense opportunities in the African payment ecosystem, said the organisation looks forward to exploring them with UBA. “Africa is currently one of the most attractive payment markets worldwide, and it’s clear that by 2030, the continent will likely become the fastest-growing equity market,” he said.
“Meeting the UBA management is always inspiring, as we always come up with bold and strategic ideas, and today is no exception. We are excited to match our shared ambitions,” Elliot stated.
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty-five million customers, across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries. With presence in New York, London, Paris and Dubai, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.
By Eric Elezuo
“Our goal is to ensure women feel supported, valued and respected. We have been working to balance the gender makeup of our workforce and leadership. As a result, the proportion of women in managerial positions is increasing, including in our most senior executive posts,” – Nestlé
If we have to measure the level or state Nestlé is giving women the power, authority and wherewithal to carry out their specific and basic assignments without recourse to another authority, the result will be unprecedented. Of course, this article is tailored towards that measurement, and the outcome is positively humongous. Women has found a resting beam on the efficacy and empowerment prowess of Nestlé, both as a Nigerian entity, and as a global force.
It is no secret that Nigerian women have found solace in the empowerment efforts of the dairy manufacturing giants, thereby taking charge of their own affairs, legally or otherwise towards becoming independent, self reliant, self sustaining, and of course capable of independently meeting their personal and communal responsibilities.
That is the makeup of Nigeria’s foremost food, beverage and other essential household makers, Nestlé Nigeria Limited, empowering all and sundry, with special bias to women, to becoming masters of their existence.
Charity, they say, begins at home, and so, Nestlé has anchored its placement of women on higher pedestal of empowerment and recognition from it primarily environment, as it gives women a pride of place in its employment indices. Presently, a total of 46.4% of its management positions are occupied by women. It is no wonder they won Top Employer Award in 2022 and following.
The company noted, “Our Gender Balance Acceleration Plan aims to increase the proportion of women in our top 200+ senior executive posts. We carefully monitor our succession planning to ensure that we have the right pipeline for our most critical business roles and provide career support and guidance through our Senior Leader Development Roadmap (Corporate Mentoring Program, Senior Leaders Development Assessment Center and Senior Executive Program).”
This has fulfilled one of their cardinal objectives, which is giving women the leverage to support their men, and in most cases become their own economic masters.
Nestlé’s efforts at empowering women is not limited to geo-location, and workplace excellence. Consequently, the brand on many occasions and still counting, has zeroed into communal existence, entrepreneurial capacity building, academic enablement, vocational mentorship and many more for women, giving them the needed zeal to coexist in a world erroneously described as a man’s world.
No one will forget in a hurry how during the 2014 United Nations 6th Annual Women’s Empowerment Principles event, Nestlé shared its mind bulging efforts to empower women and girls worldwide, exhibiting its works in cooperation with almost 750,000 women to provide technical and business skills, aimed at boosting education, training and opportunities, to encourage the professional development of women in the marketplace and community.
Also in August 2021, the brand launched the Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria project, the first of its kind, with the sole aim of helping rural women retailers within the company’s value chain to scale up their businesses to increase their household incomes. The programme has assumed national prominence from Nsukka and Obolo-Afor, where it was launched, reaching instantly to the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory and Osogbo in its first and second phases.
From the initial 150 beneficiaries, the gains have continued to multiply, integrating more Nigerian women, who are presently capable of holding their own. Nestle doesn’t settle for less in its quest to create a self reliant Nigerian woman.
The project is one of the Creating Shared Value initiatives that Nestlé deploys to help build thriving communities by improving livelihoods, and designed to equip female distributors at the end of the pyramid to scale up to three times the size of their existing businesses over three months, and to sustain the new level.
“At Nestlé, we believe that by contributing to the health and wellbeing of our communities, we create shared value for all stakeholders while contributing to the growth of our business,” the corporate headquarters was quoted as saying.
The package for beneficiaries of this programme includes grants by way of Nestlé products valued at 300% of their current monthly sales and participation in training and mentorship programs.
That’s not all, Nestlé provides each beneficiary retailer with a one-on-one mentor for guidance and consistent support. At the end of the day, the beneficiaries come out grounded and rounded, gaining the ability to master the trade and remain relevant in their businesses.
With this programme, Nestlé Nigeria has propelled 332 women entrepreneurs to amplify their businesses by an impressive 300% within the span of just one year, underscoring the company’s commitment to Creating Shared Value within its value chain, tailored to bolster financial security and enhance livelihoods, which specifically targets women within Nestlé Nigeria’s value chain.
Nestlé has also empowered women to diversify their incomes with the innovative family-centered approach, known as the Income Accelerator Programme, which is aiming to close the living income gap and reduce child labour risks by encouraging changes in behavior and rewarding positive practices.
This exemplifies Nestlé’s commitment to empowering women and households collectively, towards diversifying their incomes and building income resilience beyond every other primary endeavour.
Beyond the Nigerian shores, Nestlé also tells the story of global empowerment of women towards becoming the backbone of coffee cultivation.
The story goes, “Nescafé sources coffee from 20+ countries and recognizes the vital role that women play in growing high-quality coffee. Our sustainability initiative, the Nescafé Plan, isn’t just about producing great coffee. It’s also about empowering the communities that grow it. Supporting farmer incomes is a critical element, and, in many origins like Vietnam, the program is helping achieve yield increases up to 25%…
…”So far, Nescafé Plan 2030‘s farmer training programs have reached over 148 000 farmers in 16 countries, including… Vietnam. This knowledge empowers women to make informed decisions about their farms, improve yields, and, ultimately, grow their incomes.”
Again, Nestlé is in the forefront of empowering women farmers and advancing agriculture, and has been keenly aware of women’s vital role in Nigeria’s agriculture sector. Nestlé’s Agricultural Support Programmes have turned the challenge of limited access to resources, and climate change which threatens crop yield around, focusing specifically on women farmers by providing quality seeds, modern tools, and training in sustainable farming practices.
It has also partnered with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to promote climate-smart farming techniques that empower women to combat environmental challenges and increase crop yields.
As a testament of wholesome assistance to women’s course, the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, has recognized Nestlé for transparency in advancing women’s equality in the workplace for the fifth consecutive year.
It is believed that when the women are empowered, the community is empowered, and Nestlé takes cognizance, and is working assiduously in that direction.
Business
Dangote to IPMAN, PETROAN: Claims of Landing Fuel Cheaper Than Ours Means Importing Substandard Products
In response to allegations by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) about high fuel prices from the refinery, and importing cheaper fuel, Dangote Refinery has said that its ex-depot price of petrol ia pegged at N990 per litre for sale into trucks, and N960 for ships.
While defending pricing strategy, the refinery insisted that its rates are competitive and in line with international standards.
The refinery, in a statement signed by the company’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, claimed that the assertions made by IPMAN and PETROAN that they can land cheaper petroleum products meant that they were importing substandard products into the country.
“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights, but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations.
“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices, and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports. If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles.
Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.
“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing, and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.
“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.
“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.
“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum product in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty” he stated.
