9 banks Pay Shareholders Dividends Despite Drop In Profit

Shareholders of nine banks  have received N158.4 billion as Return on Investment, ROI , out of the total banks’ Profit After Tax, PAT, of N375.8 billion for the financial year, 2015.

 The banks paid the dividends to their shareholders despite drop in by N11.1 billion or 2.9 per cent as they recorded a total of N375.8 billion for the financial year, 2015 when compared to the figure of N386.9 billion recorded in 2014.

The nine banks  are Access Bank Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa.

 Others are Zenith Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and Union Bank Nigeria Plc.

The banks’ managements  decried the harsh operating environment and the risks that characterised the period under review as high operating cost impacted negatively to reduce profit margins .

Commenting on the performance of the banks , Mr. Emeka Emuwa, Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank Nigeria, said: “2015 was a challenging year across board, with significant operational and economic headwinds".

"Notwithstanding the difficult operating environment, Union Bank maintained its focus on business and transformation initiatives, which yielded desired results".

" Our gross earnings, excluding one-time gain on sale of subsidiaries, are up by 11 per cent compared to 2014”.

 BREAKDOWN OF DIVIDENDS BY BANKS

A breakdown of the dividends showed that Access Bank declared Profits After Tax of N65.9 billion, while it paid N15.2 billion as dividend; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated PAT was N21.3 billion and released N7.1 billion as dividend. 

GTBank posted N99 billion PAT, while it paid dividend of N51.33 billion. Sterling Bank recorded 10.3 billion, while its shareholders were paid N1.7 billion as dividend. UBA on its part declared N47.6 billion PAT, while it paid its shareholders N15.7 billion as dividend. 

Zenith Bank was not different as it declared N98.8 billion, while it paid shareholders N62.8 billion as dividend. 

Fidelity Bank recorded N16.3 PAT, and paid N4.6 billion to shareholders as dividend. 

It was the same story for Union Bank which declared N2.3 billion PAT and declared no dividend, just as Wema Bank declared N13.9 billion without proposing any dividend to shareholders.

 Further analysis showed that the nine banks’ reward to shareholders by dividend payout in 2015 grew by 18.8 per cent from N133.3 billion in 2014 to N158.4 billion. 

Zenith Bank paid the highest dividend in 2015 recording N62.8 billion compared to N54 billion in 2014, followed by GTBank, which recorded N51.3 billion as against N51.5 billion in 2014. 

Others are UBA N15.7 billion as against N10.6 billion, Access Bank N15.2 billion as against N5.7 billion, Ecobank Transnational N7.1 billion as against nil in 2014, Fidelity Bank N4.6 billion as against N5.2 billion, Sterling Bank N1.7 billion as against N5.4 billion in 2014. 

Wema Bank and Union Bank did not declare dividend for the two year period.