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Shareholders approve Zenith Bank's N6.6b dividend.
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Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc yesterday unanimously approved the proposal by the board of directors to disburse a dividend of N6.6 billion to shareholders for the last financial year, at the yearly general meeting held in Abuja yesterday.
The approved dividend surpassed the N2.2 billion paid last year and is also, the biggest ever paid out by any bank quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Also the dispatch of dividend began yesterday immediately after the yearly general meeting and will continue this year.
Speaking at the meeting, shareholders eulogised the bank's performance, noting that the dividend payout surpassed the projections contained in the prospectus for the Initial Public Offering (IPO) and public offer done last year.
For instance, the President of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Chief Akintunde Asalu commended the board and management of the bank for the result and the fact that the yearly general meeting was held promptly, coupled with the N6.6 billion dividend payout.
He said: "The 110 kobo is great for us and there is no doubt that we are doing well at Zenith Bank. We have proved to cynics that we are real men at Zenith Bank as we have finally separated the boys from men."
Another shareholder, Chief Sunny Nwosu who corroborated Asalu's views said Zenith Bank has become a household name and a financial supermarket in the banking industry especially in terms of quality service delivery, information technology and profitability.
The bank had projected a dividend of 85 kobo per share for the financial year ended June 2006, but shareholders will get N1.10 per share, indicating an increase of 25 kobo per share or 29.4 per cent.
The bank recently emerged the biggest in the country with the announcement of its result showing a total assets plus contingents of N714.51 billion for the financial year ended June 2006, representing a 92.73 per cent growth from the N370.72 billion recorded in the previous year.
The results presented to shareholders yesterday also showed a strong performance on all other parameters. For instance, gross earnings for the year totalled N58.22 billion, up from the N34.91 billion recorded in the previous year, indicating a 66.77 per cent increase.
The result also showed that shareholders funds jumped by 146.16 per cent from N37.78 billion as at the end of June 2005 to N93.80 billion, boosted by the N53.63 billion raised through a highly successful public offer conducted earlier in the year.
Profit before taxation for the period under review, the result showed, was N15.15 billion as against the N9.16 billion recorded in the previous year, representing a 65.39 per cent increase while profit after tax rose from N7.15 billion to N11.48 billion, representing an increase of 60.55 per cent.
Zenith Bank has long held an attraction for investors with a record breaking initial public offer recording an over-subscription of 554 per cent.
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