Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc have approved N2.80 per share final dividend earlier recommended by the Board of Directors for the year ended December 31, 2021. This has brought total dividend to N3.10 per share with a total value of N97.33 billion.
Speaking at the bank’s 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Jim Ovia, thanked the shareholders for their unflinching loyalty, which has enabled the bank to rise to the pinnacle of the nation’s financial services industry, and 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.”
Commenting on the dividend payout, the Chairman Emeritus of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, expressed the delight of shareholders over the consistent payment of dividends by Zenith Bank, noting that the bank’s shares remain the toast of investors because the bank has never failed to pay dividends to shareholders.
Also speaking on behalf of shareholders, the President of the Association of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), Dr Faruk Umar, said: “The bank is doing very well. All the ratios and indices have gone up. And more importantly, while we were in the meeting, I got my alert of the credit of my dividend. This is very commendable. The leadership of the bank has been very effective; we thank Jim Ovia for the leadership he has been giving, he has increased the dividend in spite of the economic hardship in the country, and I believe the GMD is doing very well.”
The bank achieved 10% year-on-year (YoY) growth in gross earnings to N765.6 billion from N696.5 billion in the previous year. This was on the back of a 23% YoY growth in non-interest income to N309 billion from N251.7 billion and a two per cent YoY growth in interest income to N427.6billion from N420.8 billion.
