How Zenith Bank worked to become highest dividend payer amongst all quoted companies
No doubt, with the weekend’s approval of the proposal of the board to pay a final dividend of N2.45k per share as dividend for the 2017 financial year, Zenith Bank Plc, can be said to be among top quoted companies that paid among the best from the 2017 financial results.
This may be one of the reasons why the Chairman of the financial giant, Jim Ovia, reiterated the company’s commitment to delivering superior returns to its valuable shareholders in Nigeria at the recently held Annual General Meeting in Abuja.
Explaining more during the approval which was unanimously given to the proposal at the 27th Annual General Meeting of the Bank, Ovia noted that with the N2.45k, it then brings the total amount paid as dividend per share by the bank to N2.70k, following an interim dividend of 25k per share paid during the 2017 financial period.
Defending why the bank will continue to deliver superior returns on their Investment in the industry in Nigeria, he said “The Bank remains committed to delivering superior returns to our valuable shareholders. In clear demonstration of this, we had declared and paid you an interim dividend of 25 kobo in the cause of the 2017 financial year. We hereby propose a final dividend of 245 kobo per share, if approved this will bring the total dividend for the year ended December 2017 to 2.70 kobo per share against 2.02 kobo per share that was paid the previous year.”
Ovia revealed further that due to strategic management within the year under review, the bank’s total deposits were N2.74 trillion in 2017, representing an increase of eight per cent over the previous year’s figure of N2.55 trillion; profit before tax rose by 24 per cent from N140 billion in 2016 to N174 billion in 2017, while total assets of the bank grew by 13 per cent from N4.28trillion in 2016 to N4.83tn in 2017, adding that shareholders’ funds rose by 15 per cent from N616 billion in 2016 to N708bn; gross earnings also grew by 48 per cent from N455 billion in 2016 to N674 billion in the year under review.
According to him, the impressive financial results remain a testament to the durability and resilience of the Zenith Bank as a leading financial brand.
