One of Nigeria’s tier-one lenders, Zenith Bank Plc has proposed to pay an interim dividend of 30kobo per share for the half-year (H1) period ended June 30, 2019.
The dividend will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on August 29, 2019.
The bank’s audited financial statement for the half-year period shows its gross earnings grew by 3percent, from N322.2 billion to N331.6 billion driven by a significant growth of 24percent year-on-year (YoY) in non-interest income from N88.6 billion in H1 2018 to N109.7billion in H1 2019.
In particular, fees from electronic products increased by N17billion or 168percent, from N10billion recorded in H1 2018 to N27billion in H1 2019, demonstrating significant progress in the bank’s retail banking initiatives.
Zenith Bank’s topline growth filtered through to the bottom-line as Profit Before Tax (PBT) increased to N111.7 billion, reflecting a 4percent growth over N107.4 billion reported in H1 2018 with earnings per share (EPS) increasing by 9percent to N2.83 in H1 2019 from N2.60 compared to the prior period.
Between December 2018 and June 2019, the Group’s total deposit increased by 3percent with retail deposits growing by N267 billion (31percent), from N861 billion to close at N1.1 trillion.
Despite the growth in our deposit base, we optimized interest expense leading to a 4percent reduction from N74.7 billion to N72.1 billion due to the Group’s improved funding mix and our profound treasury management skills.
Net Interest Margins (NIMs) witnessed a compression from 10percent in the same period last year to 8.6percent in H1 2019, as a result of the declining yield environment but cost of funds improved from 3.4percent to 3percent.
The bank’s robust risk management ensured that its absolute Gross Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) remained flat. However, the marginal movement in NPL ratio was as a result of the 3percent reduction in our loan book from N2.02 trillion as at December 2018 to N1.95 trillion at the end of the period.
“We are creatively deploying new retail loan products to ensure we capture a reasonable share of the retail loan market. We remain committed to maintaining our strong balance sheet with liquidity ratio at 74.6percent and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) at 25percent, ensuring we remain above regulatory thresholds”, the bank said.
“Going into the second half of the year, we will continue to consolidate our leadership in the corporate space while our retail banking drive will continue unabated. We expect to see an improvement in economic activities even as we maintain our promise of delivering a unique service experience to our customers,” it further noted.
