Nigeria’s prominent banking conglomerate, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), recently released its third-quarter report for the period ending September 30, 2023.
The report showed an impressive year-on-year growth in the company’s top-line and bottom-line figures. Records showed that revenue grew by 115.2 percent to ₦1.31 trillion in the first nine months of 2023, from ₦608 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2022. Profit after tax rose by 287.18 percent to ₦449.30 billion, from ₦116.04 billion in 2022.
There was also an increase in total assets which rose to ₦16.24 trillion, representing a 49.5 percent increase over the ₦10.86 trillion at the end of December 2022.
In line with the robust performance of the company, customer deposits rose to ₦11.63 trillion, representing a 48.6 percent increase from ₦7.8 trillion at the end of 2022 financial year.
The Q3 2023 report of the bank, showed pre-tax profit of ₦98.4 billion, representing an 86.64% year-on-year increase from the same period in 2022. As at November 2,2023, UBA’s share price closed at ₦20.95, again representing a year-to-date appreciation of 176%.
The impressive earnings declared by the bank has seen some management staff and family members of UBA’s Chairman Tony Elumelu increase their shareholding in the top performing bank considered one of the best in Nigeria.
Breakdown of the share purchases, according to a corporate filing on the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) website showed that on November 1,2023, the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, Mr. Oliver Alawuba purchased 22,816,172 units to add to his original 1,593,248 units, arriving at a total of 24,409,420 shares in the group. The shares were obtained at an aggregate price of ₦21.41 per unit, giving a total value of ₦488.5 million.
The same November 1, saw a flurry of insider share purchases in the company. The group’s Deputy Managing Director, Muyiwa Akinyemi at an aggregate price of ₦21.05 purchased 13,667,506 shares, representing a total value of ₦287.7 million.
Michael Ilobah, Group Head of Business Assurance bought 2,336,281 shares at an aggregate price of ₦21.10, representing a total value of ₦49.3 million. Head of Global Investor Services, Taiwo Sonola bought 467,256 shares at an aggregate price of ₦21.00, having a total value of ₦9.8 million.
Alex Alozie, an Executive Director purchased 9,345,124 shares at an aggregate price of ₦21.00, representing a total value of ₦196.2 million. Mrs. Awele Elumelu, wife of Tony Elumelu bought 187,854 shares at an aggregate price of ₦20.95 per unit, representing a total value of ₦3.9 million.
In November 2,2023, Ugochukwu Elumelu in two separate transactions purchased 1,311 and 1,000 shares respectively. Also, Nneka Elumelu bought 2,368 shares at ₦20.90, the same day.
Meanwhile, Tony Elumelu remains the largest single shareholder of the bank and its board chairman.