United Bank for Africa Plc has released its unaudited financial results for the first six months of the year, declaring a rise in earnings for the period.

The results, which were released to the Nigeria Stock Exchange on Friday, showed that UBA’s gross earnings for the period stood at N138bn.

This represents a rise of 8.66 per cent when compared to the N127bn it declared as gross earnings for the corresponding period of 2013.

The bank explained in a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday that the growth recorded in gross earnings was partly due to an 11 per cent increase in interest income.

It said its interest income rose to N98.5bn in the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 from the N88.6bn it posted for the same period of 2013.

The bank also said its net interest income, non-interest income and operating income appreciated.

Specifically, it said that “net interest income was up by 3.4 per cent to N55.2bn, non-interest income rose by 3.1 per cent to N39.8bn, while operating income rose by 2.7 per cent to N92.2bn.

UBA’s profit before tax for the period, however, fell by 13 per cent to N28.9bn from the N33.25bn it reported in the corresponding period, while its profit after tax dropped to N22.9bn from N28.4bn.

The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said in the statement that the group remained focused on its medium and long-term strategies to grow market share in all its businesses across Africa, reduce costs and ultimately deliver value to all stakeholders.

He said, “We are confident that business returns will be much better in the remaining period of the year as we continue to deploy new and innovative ways of delivering value adding products and services.”

United Bank for Africa Plc is one of Africa’s leading financial institutions offering banking services to more than seven million customers across over 700 business offices in 19 African countries.