By PETER EGWUATU

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has recorded a shareholders’ fund of N188.37 billion for the half year ended June, 2012, from a negative of N184.96 billion in the same corresponding period.

The bank also declared a N13.6 billion profit for the half year result despite the harsh operating environment which continues to affect the banking industry.

In its unaudited half year result released to the Nigeria stock Exchange (NSE), weekend, the bank posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N13.6 billion as against the loss of N44.01 billion recorded during the corresponding period of 2011.

The financial report also showed a Profit before Taxation (PBT) of N9.793 billion as against N65.679 billion loss posted last year. It was the PBT plus deferred tax income of N3.758 billion that gave the Profit of N13.6 billion.

The performance may be attributed to full re-capitalization, injection of new capital; support from AMCON with the clean- up of bad loans; faster service delivery to customers and other growth spurring polices of the  Funke Osibodu led management team.

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, had while presenting the first quarter result, said; “The bank has indeed begun to move forward in the right direction. We have been able to turn around our loss position of the previous years and more significantly, we now have a healthy and positive shareholders’ fund”.

Total comprehensive income for the period also rose to N11.99 billion as against the loss of N43.50 billion posted during the corresponding period last year. This translated to earning per share of 221 kobo compared to the loss of 326 kobo recorded in 2011.

It would be recalled that in the first quarter, the bank posted an unaudited gross earnings of N25.51 billion (Group N29.84billion) while profit after taxation was N6.32 billion (Group N7.62 billion).

Similarly, the Group recorded a PAT of N16.14billion compared to a loss ofN40.30 billion posted during the corresponding period in the previous year. Likewise, the group assets grew 1.07 percent to N1.049 trillion from N1.038 trillion recorded last year.

Group total comprehensive income rose to N19.475 billion compared to  N39.410 billion loss posted in 2011.This also translated to earning per share of 251 kobo as against a loss per share of 305 kobo recorded last year.