Auchi Microfinance Bank Limited (AMFB) says its shareholders’ fund has increased from N173.4 million in 2016 to N195.9 million in 2017.
Hassan Momodu, chairman, board of director of the financial institution, made the disclosure at the combined 20th and 21st annual general meetings of the bank ended 2016 and 2017 financial years, respectively, in Auchi.
Momodu, who said the increase in the shareholders’ fund was an indication of prudent management of resources even in the face of dwindling income, however, attributed the delay in the annual general meetings to the late receipts of the audited accounts of the bank to the re-organisation in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approvals of audited accounts of MFBs.
He also put the bank’s gross earnings at N117.6 million in the year under review as against N123.9 million in 2016, representing 5 percent decrease, while 2015 earnings was N122.690 million.
He attributed the decease in gross earnings in the 2017 financial year to sharp decrease in the pricing of investment placement as a result of recession and also a drop in other income because of poor loan repayments.
The board chairman, who expressed optimism that the 2018 financial accounts would be better than that of year 2017, noted that the bank had continually improved economic empowerment to micro, small and medium enterprises by providing financial and advisory services tailored towards their businesses.
“Your bank has been instrumental in financing skills acquisition centres, infrastructural development, among others, to enhance grassroots development and has had the good fortune of being at the top chain of microfinance banks in Edo State, impacting on MSMEs in your community and its environs.
“The bank is poised in the coming years to provide innovative ways to serve our customers’ needs and we are harnessing IT to provide convenient, cost effective and secured ways to access our services online,” he said.
The shareholders, however, approved a bonus of 15 percent dividend per share in the year under review to enable the bank shore up its share capital, while earnings per share was 17 kobo and return on investment was 11 percent, as against earnings per share of 20 kobo and return on investment of 15 percent for 2016 financial year.
The MFB, however, appealed to shareholders and the general public indebted to the bank to immediately pay up in order to reduce the institution’s yearly provisioning and improve profitability.
