Equity Group has reported giving out 30% more loans than the previous year, as it supports companies seeking new opportunities as they recover from the COVID-19 lockdown.
This has been possible as customer deposits grew from Kshs478 billion ($4 billion) to Kshs 691 billion ($6.3billion), driven by 51% growth in Uganda. There was a 21% growth in Kenya and an additional Kshs130 billion from the acquisition of BCDC in DRC.
While releasing the results for Q3 2020 in Nairobi today, Dr. James Mwangi, Group Managing Director and CEO said, “We grew our loan book by 30% year on year in order to support our customers who saw opportunities of green shoots and diversification in the COVID-19 environment. Most of the new opportunities we funded were in manufacturing of PPE’s, logistics, online businesses, agro- processing, fast moving consumer goods and agriculture value chains.”
In a statement, Equity stated that execution of Equity Group’s twin strategy of being defensive and offensive has proven to be effective despite the challenging environment.
Loans to customers grew by 30% driven by 37% growth in Uganda, 19% growth by Equity Bank Congo, 15% growth in Rwanda, 15% growth in Kenya and an additional Kshs 48.5 billion from the acquisition of BCDC in DRC.
The growth in capital weighted loan book and capital geared customer deposits was on the back of a 27% growth in shareholders’ funds following withdrawal of Equity Group Holdings’ 2019 dividend payout. The balance sheet of the Group grew by 38% from Kshs 677.1 billion to reach Kshs 934 billion.
Equity also revealed in the quarterly report that their regional expansion and business diversification efforts have reduced dependence on Kenya for Group performance making the Group truly a regional financial services provider. Regional subsidiaries now contribute 40% of customer deposits, 39% of Group total assets, 33% of the loan book, 30% of the Group’s revenue and 25% of the Group’s profit before tax.
