Access Bank posts 25.56% profit rise for 2011

Nigeria’s Access Bank said on Friday its pre-tax profit rose 25.56 percent to 20.3 billion naira ($128.6 million) in 2011, compared with 16.16 billion naira the previous year.

The bank last October completed the acquisition of rival lender Intercontinental Bank, one of nine banks rescued in a $4 billion 2009 bailout, and it merged operations of the two.

According to a statement by Access Bank to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in December, Intercontinental Bank Plc will cease to exist by March 2012.

The statement said the merger of business would be effected through a Scheme of Merger pursuant to Part XII of the Investments and Securities Act (No 29) of 2007.

Access Bank said it had earlier envisaged that the merger process would take between 18 and 24 months, adding that it was able to fast-track the process due to a number of factors ranging from the pre-merger integration process and the support of stakeholders.

The statement read, “We are pleased that this acceleration has been made possible by the success of our pre-merger integration processes leading to the achievement of key milestones well ahead of initial target dates.

“This has been assisted by the high level of cooperation and support received from all stakeholders to date. The acceleration has also been necessitated by the successful completion of change of control at the parent as well as subsidiary levels of Intercontinental Bank.”

“To ensure that the momentum is sustained and that value is preserved, Access Bank has decided to accelerate the merger timetable in line with the progress of integration. This is particularly important as some critical aspects of the integration exercise such as customer and product integration will only be completed subsequent to the legal merger of both banks,” it added.