Diamond Bank sees N35bn profit for 2013

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Nigeria’s Diamond Bank said it expects to make a pretax profit of N35 billion ($219 mln) in 2013, up from N27.5 billion last year.
Chief Executive Alex Otti said the bank expects to make a 20 percent return on equity in 2013. Oti added that the lender was planning to conclude a $550 million eurobond, which has been held up due to turbulence in debt markets, by the end of the year, Reuters reports.
“We are targeting (operating profit) of N50-55 billion naira by year-end. We believe we should be ending the year with anywhere between N30 to 35 billion in pretax profit,” Otti told an analysts’ conference call, presenting its first half results.
The mid-tier lender last week posted a pretax profit in the first six months of the year to N17.6 billion ($110 mln), as against N15.37 billion in the same period a year ago.
Otti said the bank had grown its customer base to 2.8 million accounts in the first half of the year, up from 2.1 million as at December last year. He expected its network to rise to 300 branches by year-end, from 265 now.