Ecobank: behind the profit warning

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, «provides an income for the fiscal 2015 well below the forecast».

Those bad results are in connection with an unfavorable international context during last year. «The macro-economic challenges with the decline in oil prices, currency depreciation, fiscal and monetary constraints (…) adversely affected the revenue growth forecast for fiscal 2015 to be below the targets», justified ETI in a statement released Tuesday.

Constraints which certainly induced «important provisions on the loan portfolio» made «in the last quarter 2015,» also at the origin of this form of decline. Last October, the group’s director, Ade Ayeyemi, had already raised the issue in a note, citing «a challenging operating environment in sub-Saharan Africa».

In the first three quarters of 2015, net income of ETI slumped 5% (compared to the same period in 2014) to $ 305.7 million. While in 2014, net income jumped 167%, to 394.77 million dollars, compared to 2013. «An appropriate action plan was implemented to strengthen risk management procedures».

ETI «remains confident in its diversified business model and long-term growth prospects of the African continent». The publication of financial results in 2015 is scheduled for April.