…declares N31.4bn as interim dividend
… as public offering, rights issue close September 9
Zenith Bank, one of the tier-one banks in Nigeria, has released impressive results for the first six months of 2024, confirming it was not by accident the bank was awarded the Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria at the World Finance Banking Awards 2024, an award it won for the fourth consecutive year.
From January to June 2024, Zenith Bank realised N2.10 trillion as gross revenue, surpassing the N967.26 billion revenue it made during the corresponding period of 2023 by 117.2 percent.
It should be noted that the financial services sector was one of the outstanding sectors in the first half of 2024. It grew by 33.3 percent and 30.4 percent at the end of the first and second quarters of 2024.
Net interest income for the period was N715.07 billion, which was 173.1 percent higher than the N261.86 billion net interest income realised from January to June 2023.
Substantial gains from net income on fees and commission, N109.62 billion, as well as trading gains, N795.57 billion caused its profit before tax to surge to N727.03 billion at half year 2024. In the comparable period of 2023, the bank made N43.92 billion as net income on fees and commission, and N103.03 billion as trading gains.
The huge trading gains came from trading books, bonds, and interest income on trading bonds. The sources of the net income on fees and commission include fees on electronic products, income from financial guarantee contracts issued foreign withdrawal charges, commission on letter of credit, as well as account maintenance fees.
Zenith Bank has six subsidiary companies namely; Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited, Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited, Zenith Bank (UK) Limited, Zenith Bank (Sierra Leone) Limited, Zenith Bank (The Gambia) Limited, and Zenith Nominees Limited, adding that it opened 5 new branches during the first six months of 2024.
As at 30 June 2024, Zenith Bank Group had 452 branches, 167 cash centres, 2,114 ATM terminals, 479,959 POS terminals, and 26,636,101 cards issued to its diverse customers. As of 31 December 2023, the bank had 447 branches, 166 cash centres, 2,102 ATM terminals, 414,192 POS terminals and 25,653,330 cards issued to its numerous customers.
The bank paid N149.03 billion as tax to the government within the period, almost as thrice as the N58.63 billion paid from January to June 2023.
It should be noted that Zenith Bank is currently in the market to raise N289.31 billion through hybrid offer of rights issue of 5.23 billion ordinary shares at N36 per share, and a public offering of 2.77 billion ordinary shares at N36.5 per share. The offer closes on September 9, 2024.
Profit after tax for the period was N577.99 billion, an increase of 98.1 percent over N291.73 billion realised in the same period of 2023.
Total income for the year was higher due to the realisation of N201.88 billion income classified as coming from ‘’items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss.’’
At half year 2024, Zenith Bank committed N3.33 billion to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects. The bulk of the donations went to the social security trust fund of the government, N2.22 billion; conferences and seminars, N402 million; educational institutions, N210 million; sport organisations, N175 million; and various charitable organisations, N107 million. Other donations individually not up to N5 million added up to 176 million, among others.
During the first half of 2024, Zenith Bank had 6,590 people in its employ, with 51 percent of these employees being females.
At the board and management levels, it had 105 executive members, comprising 70 males and 35 females.
In terms of revenue by geography, N1.88 trillion was realised within Nigeria, N123.97 billion from subsidiaries in other African countries while N117.29 billion was realised from Europe.
When the bank’s profit after tax was disaggregated by geography, N527.38 billion was realised from within Nigeria, N21.82 billion from other subsidiaries in Africa while N28.78 billion was realised from Europe.
Meanwhile, the board of the bank has proposed an interim dividend of N1 per share for every 50 kobo ordinary shares of the bank, for shareholders whose names appear in the register of the company on or before September 13 2024. This amounts to a total interim dividend of N31.4 billion. Payment date is September 20, 2024.
Jim Ovia, the chairman of the bank with 11.32 percent shareholding will go home with N3.6 billion as interim dividend on September 13, 2024.
