20 May Skye Bank Plc: 2015Q1 Result | Strong bottom-line growth driven by lower

SKYEBANK Plc a day ago released its Q1’2015 result which came in strong above consensus expectation given its disappointing 2014 full year performance. Notably;

• Gross earnings grew by 23.4% y/y driven by a 13% y/y jump in interest based income and a 64% rise in non-interest based income.
• The bank’s interest expense rose quite sharply by 49.6% y/y to N16.29 billion.
• A lower impairment charge (which trimmed 32.1% y/y), impacted positively on profitability.
• Operating expenses though up 3.7% y/y, we think is applaud able at this point in time.
• After-tax-profit was up whooping 90.4% y/y to N5.29 billion.

As at close of trade previous day, the stock rallied 9.66%. We expect market to further price-in this strong results although warn of early profit takers given the weak overall market mood. Over the last three months, the stock has gained 40.29% and 29.95% week-to-date.