Zenith Bank Plc, one of the leading Banks in the country, had a good outing in the first quarter of 2016, recording a profit after tax, PAT, of N26.573 billion as at March 31, 2016, though a decline of about four per cent from the N27.680 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.

However, the bank recorded gross earnings of N84.177 billion as at March 2016 as against N81.421 billion the previous. Similarly net interest income stood at N58.157 billion as against N42.631 billion in 2015, just as impairment charges rose to N2.557 billion, as against N2.1 billion in 2015.

Analysts at FBN Capital, said PAT declined more than PBT because Zenith Bank booked a significant positive result in other comprehensive income, OCI, N1.1billion, in the first quarter of 2015. “This year, the OCI line came in at just N147 million. Returning to profit before provisions, while net interest income grew strongly by 36 per cent to N58.2 billion, non-interest income fell 52 per cent to N15.3 billion. Relative to our forecasts, as aforementioned, both PBT and PAT surprised positively. The main drivers were better-than-expected results on the provisions and operational expenses, OPEX, lines, with variances of 41 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Although net interest income actually beat our forecast by seven per cent, the weakness on the non-interest income line (32% below our forecast) proved significant,” they said.