United Bank for Africa (UBA) Q4 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY2025 profit after tax was ₦404.7bn, down 47.2% year over year, while total assets rose 9.4% to ₦33.17tn and deposits increased 11.8% to ₦27.21tn.

• Gross earnings declined 3.0% to ₦3.09tn as lower FX-related income and higher credit provisions weighed on results.

• Shareholders’ funds grew 24.4% to ₦4.25tn, supported by an oversubscribed capital raise of ₦395bn.

Financial highlights

• Interest income increased 9.8% to ₦2.65tn and net interest income rose 4.2% to ₦1.62tn; operating income fell 12.1% to ₦1.86tn.

• Non-interest income declined 43.1% to ₦440.9bn; net trading and foreign-exchange income was negative ₦140.6bn.

• Operating expenses increased 4.7% to ₦1.11tn; profit before tax fell 47.3% to ₦423.4bn and basic EPS declined 55.6% to ₦9.66.

• Operating profit was ₦1.03tn before elevated credit provisions and derivative fair-value losses, which together amounted to ₦614bn.

Outlook and guidance

• FY2026 targets include deposit growth of 15%, loan growth of 10%, cost of risk of 3.0% and an NPL ratio of 5.5%.

• FY2026 targets include ROAE of 20%, ROAA of 2.5%, cost-to-income ratio excluding impairment of 55%, and net interest margin of 7.5%.

• Prior-year derivative gains reversed; management expects FX-related losses of ₦282.5bn not to recur at the same magnitude.

• Focus areas include digitalization, financial inclusion and intra-African trade, with cautious risk-asset growth and loan recovery efforts on provisioned exposures.