Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s leading financial institution released its result for the year ended December 31, 2020.
These six charts show how the tier-one lender performed in 2020.
Despite the Covid-19 headwinds in 2020, Zenith Bank recorded its highest profit in eight years at N230.5 billion, a 10 percent surge from N208.8 billion in 2019.
This increase was driven by higher gross earnings and lower tax expense.
Gross earnings grow by most in three years
Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, the bank grew gross earnings by 5 percent to N696.4 billion in 2020 from N662.2 billion the year before.
This is it highest since 2017 when it recorded gross earnings of N745.1 billion.
Earnings per share hit highest in 8 years
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The earnings per share of Nigeria’s second most capitalised bank stood at N7.34 in 2020, up from N6.65 in 2019.
Earnings per share (EPS) is a company’s net profit divided by the number of common shares it has outstanding. EPS indicates how much money a company makes for each share of its stock.
Zenith’s earnings per share has grown to its highest in 8 years, rising from N3.01 in 2013 to N7.34 in 2020.
Interest Income grew 1.27% in 2020
Despite the low yield environment, the bank managed to grow its interest income by 1.27 percent to N420.8 billion in 2020 from N415.5 billion the year before.
However, the low-interest environment affected the net interest margin which declined from 8.2 percent to 7.9 percent in the current year due to the re-pricing of interest bearing assets.
Dividend rose to N3 per share in 2020 from N2.8 in 2019
In a demonstration of its commitment to its shareholders, the bank announced a proposed final dividend payout of N2.70 per share in addition to the N0.30 per share declared as interim dividend, bringing the total dividend to N3.00 per share.
This is compared to N2.8 per share paid in the previous year.
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