New Telegraph

Zenith Bank to pay shareholders N97.33bn dividend

Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc, at have unanimously have expressed delight at the final dividend payment of NGN2.80 per share, which brings the total dividend for the 2021 financial year to N3.10 per share with a total value of N97.33 billion. In his statement at the 31st Annual General Meeting in Lagos, yesterday, the founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Jim Ovia, CON, whike thanking the shareholders for their unflinching loyalty, which has enabled the bank to rise to the pinnacle of the nation’s financial services industry, assured them of the bank’s commitment to consistently deliver superior value to them.

Speaking on the bank’s performance, the Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said: “if you look at the bank’s history over the years, Zenith Bank has always grown, and even within the pandemic, we have maintained a reasonable positive growth trajectory. “Growth is coming from the fact that we are deploying our digital capability to grow more businesses, simplify our service processes, make our processes more efficient, and deal with customers’ complaints. “Apart from developing new products, we are discovering new business verticals, especially within the retail segment, which have significant revenue.” He added that “meeting the expectation of shareholders means we have to work harder. The team is dodged, hardworking, resilient, and above all, we have a very supportive board that comes with superior guidance.”

In spite of a challenging macroeconomic environment aggravated by COVID-19, the Zenith Bank Group achieved year-on-year (YoY) growth in gross earnings of 10 per cent from N696.5 billion reported in the previous year to N765.6billion. This was on the back of a 23 per cent YoY growth in non-interest income from N251.7billion to N309billion and a two per cent YoY growth in interest income from N420.8billion to N427.6billion. Profit before tax also grew by 10 per cent, from N255.9 billion to N280.4 billion in the current year. The increase was due to growth in the top-line and very strong management of the treasury portfolio that increased efficiency, resulting in a drop in interest expense by 12 per cent from N121.1 billion in 2020 to N106.8 billion in the current year. This further led to a seven increase in net interest income of NGN320.8 billion in 2021 from N299.7 billion in 2020.

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