What UBA did to achieve growth in 2021 — Elumelu

The chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu, has given an insight into what the group did to achieve the growth it recorded in 2021.

The bank’s annual profit grew at a pace of 4.3 per cent for the financial year 2021 and its profit after tax grew by 8.7 percent to N118.7 billion in 2021, from the N109.2 billion recorded in 2020.

As a result, the bank proposed a final dividend of 80 kobo for every ordinary share of 50 kobo for the year, bringing the total dividend for the year to N1.00 as the Bank had earlier paid an interim dividend of 20kobo.

Speaking Friday at the 60th Annual General Meeting of the bank, Mr Elumelu said the bank’s strategic investment decisions over the past few years have indeed translated to huge returns for its investors, despite the challenging business environment witnessed in the last two years.

“I am proud of how as a Group, we have been able to further consolidate on the new capabilities we have built, novel customer solutions we have deployed, efficiency gains recorded and the growth prospects we have leveraged from a recovering world,” he said.

“These were the building blocks for the very strong financial performance and the growth delivered by your Group in 2021, further confirming the wisdom of the investments we made and the strategy we have pursued, to ensure the diversification and sustainability of our business model.”

He assured the bank’s capacity to sustain this momentum especially as economic activities recover from the impact of the Covid -19 pandemic.

“Our goal is to continue to build strong brand loyalty with our customers and create additional value for our shareholders, whose underlying support has positioned UBA for continued growth,” he said.

UBA’s Group Managing Director, Kennedy Uzoka, who was also at the meeting, also spoke about the improved performance of the bank’s subsidiaries in the financial year under consideration.

“We are happy that the global community recognises the role our Group is playing in the transformation of the African economic landscape through innovative and customer focused banking services,” Mr. Uzoka said.

He disclosed that the bank’s business in the United Kingdom had specifically witnessed remarkable expansion.

“As from July 2021, UBA UK started making profit, and even to date, they are still doing well, and the same can be said for many of our African subsidiaries,” he said.

“The truth is that we are driven by the opportunities and potential in each of the geographies that we invested in, and we are happy with what we have achieved so far.”