Proposes Interim Dividend
Zenith Bank Plc has reported profit before tax of N117.06bn for the first half of 2021, rising by 2.67 per cent year on year.
Its audited interim report for the six months ended June 2021, said the bank’s net interest income increased by 1.61 per cent to N159.94bn in H1 2021 from N157.41bn in the same period of last year.
The bank saw its earnings per share rise to N3.38 from N3.30 in the corresponding period of 2020. However, its gross earnings dropped to N345.56bn in H1 2021 from NN346.09bn in the same period the previous year.
“An interim dividend of 30 kobo for every share of N50k subject to appropriate withholding tax will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on the 10th day of September, 2021,” the bank’s Company Secretary, Michael Otu, said in a statement.
Though the gross earnings decreased in the period under consideration, the pre-tax profit moved up to N117.1 billion from N114.1 billion in the same period of last year.
After an income tax of N10.9 billion, slightly higher than the N10.3 billion paid a year ago, the company posted a profit after tax of N106.1 billion versus N103.8 billion recorded in HY’20.
A look at the top line of the statements showed that the gross earnings went down to N345.6 billion from N346.1 billion despite an improvement in the revenue generated from the Nigerian business. The drop was majorly due to a decline in the earnings from its banking operations in Africa and Europe.
Interest and similar income decreased in the first six months of this year to N203.9 billion from the N217.0 billion printed in the same time of last year, while the interest and similar expense went down to N44.0 billion from N59.6 billion. This pushed the net interest income higher to N159.9 billion from N157.4 billion.
In H1 2021, Zenith Bank said its net income on fees and commission stood at N47.7 billion compared with N33.5 billion, mainly buoyed by an increase in account maintenance fee (N14.5 billion in HY’21 versus N9.4 in HY’20), improvement in fees on electronic products (N17.1 billion versus N8.9 billion) and a few others.
A further look into the financial statements showed that trading gains rose to N59.3 billion from N58.8 billion, while other operating income went down to N19.8 billion from N24.2 billion.
The company said in the period under consideration, its personnel expenses were trimmed to N37.6 billion from N38.9 billion, but the operating expenses could not be tamed as they burst to N97.6 billion from N82.7 billion.
In line with its tradition, the board of the bank has proposed an interim dividend of 30 kobo to be paid on September 20, 2021, to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as at the close of business on September 10, 2021.
