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Absa reports 6 per cent revenue growth despite challenges

Dar es Salaam. The Absa Group recorded positive business trend last year,  compared with 2018. This was two years after the end of its partnership with UK’s Barclays Group, the Absa chief executive officer, Mr Daniel Mminele, has said.

Speaking yesterday when presenting the Group’s 2019 audited financial results through video conferencing from Johannesburg, Mr Mminele said growth trends were recorded in revenues, customers’ deposits, share dividends, loans provision and the number of its customers.

“We delivered resilient performance against the challenging macroeconomic backdrop. We maintained balance sheet momentum, and the growth was broad-based across most businesses,” he said.

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Mr Mminele further said that, looking forward this year, the bank will continue to implement strategies such as improving operations efficiency to maintain resilience as there will be no forecast adjustments.

According to him, the group will continue to monitor the impact of Coronavirus closely to both global economy and how it could impact their operations.

Mminele said the group revenue grew by six percent to 80 billion rand from 76 billion Rand in 2018, while headline earnings, the measure most analyst use to gauge profit rose by one per cent as impairment increased.

“Our revenues growth  momentum is showing an improving trend, with strong deposits growth of 12 percent and customer loans growth of nine percent for the group,” said the Absa Group’s director of Finance, Mr Jason Quinn.

Basic earnings per share gained by 0.44 percent, rising to 1,895 cents last year, up from 1,886.7 cents. If nothing else, this pushed up dividends by one percent -  to 11.25 rand per share, up from 11.10 rand in 2018.

On normalised accounting, loans and advances to customers increased to 917 billion rand, up from 842 billion rand in 2018. Absa Regional Operations (ARO) businesses - comprising Absa Group African operations, but excluding South Africa - also delivered strong financial performance last year, with earnings growth of 16 percent. This considerably enhanced the Group’s overall position.

“We look forward to continuing to grow our revenues and market share on the continent over the coming years,” said Mr Peter Matlare, chief executive officer of Absa Regional Operations.

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