Barclays Bank of Uganda Ltd net profit increased by 30.9% to Shs72bn in 2017, up from Shs55bn recorded in 2016, Business Focus reports.
In the financial statements released Monday, Barclays attributed the increase in profits to “a very strong revenue performances and cost efficiencies.”
The bank’s total revenue increased by 11% to Shs258bn in 2017 up from Shs233bn in 2016. Total income increased to Shs304.4bn in 2017, up from Shs272bn in 2016.
Meanwhile, total expenditure increased by over Shs17bn to Shs217.6bn in 2017, up from Shs200.6bn in 2016.
However, Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) grew by 51.5% to Shs106.7bn in 2017, up from Shs70.4bn in 2016.
A Non-Performing Loan is the sum of borrowed money upon which the debtor has not made his scheduled payments for at least 90 days. NPL is either in default or close to being in default. This means that Barclays still has a chance to recover part or all the Shs106.7bn in NPLs.
Bad loans written off reduced slightly to Shs14.9bn in 2017, down from Shs15.19bn in 2016.
Apart from the high NPLs, other key performance indicators were positive.
Barclays saw customer deposits grow by 21% to Shs1.68 trillion in 2017, up from Shs1.39 trillion.
Loans advanced to customers increased by 25% to Shs1 trillion in 2017, from Shs822bn in 2016.
Barclays’ total assets also increased to Shs2.47 trillion in 2017, up from Shs1.9 trillion the previous year.
On a further positive note, the bank’s core capital increased to Shs226.3bn in 2017, up from Shs293.2bn in 2016.
Commenting on the results, Rakesh Jha, the Managing Director at Barclays Bank of Uganda Ltd said: “I am pleased to report that despite the challenging economic environment, we were able to deliver a strong set of results across our business units resulting in substantial growth in our balance sheet.”
He added: “The results demonstrate our customers’ continuous confidence in our strategic approach and ability to meet their needs. “
