Diamond Bank has declared gross earnings of N217.09 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2015 against N208.40 billion achieved in 2014.

The details are contained in the company’s audited result released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday in Lagos.

The gross earnings represented a growth of 4.17 per cent over the figure in 2014.

The bank’s profit before tax, however, dropped to N7.1 billion from N28.10 billion in 2014, a decrease of 74.8 per cent.

Its profit after tax also stood at N5.66 billion, down from N25.49 billion achieved in 2014, a decline of 77.8 per cent.

The bank’s net operating income stood at N104.64 billion compared with N127.38 billion in 2014.

Its impairment charge stood at N55.17 billion against N44.18 billion recorded in 2014.

According to the report, the bank’s non-performing loans stood at 6.9 per cent from 5.1 per cent posted in 2014.

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.3 per cent in contrast to 17. 5 per cent recorded in 2014, while net interest margin dropped to 6.1 per cent from 6.6 per cent in 2014.

The bank had earlier issued profit guidance after prudent provisioning of N55.2 billion impairment charge and the installation of mitigating actions to address the impact of current economic headwinds.

Commenting on the performance, the bank’s Chief Executive, Uzoma Dozie, explained that the bank was currently undergoing a transformation exercise.

Dozie said that the bank had embarked on strategies that would deliver improved earnings and lower operating costs in 2016 and years ahead.

He said that the bank had set forth a clear and realisable business road map that would promote stronger and sustainable growth in 2016 and the years ahead.

Dozie expressed optimism that the bank’s reliance on innovation, technology and lifestyle priorities would drive banking in the future.

He also expressed optimism about the growth and value to shareholders and restated his commitment to overseeing full implementation of the bank’s digital-led retail strategy.

Dozie said that the bank had taken a number of mitigating actions to address and drastically reduce its challenges.

“2015 was undoubtedly a challenging year for us owing to a mixture of external factors not limited to regulatory headwinds and a difficult macroeconomic environment.

“Whilst this led to additional impairment charges following a prudent review, we have further tightened the criteria for loan origination in order to better align our loan portfolio with the macroeconomic conditions,’’ he said.

(NAN)