Zenith bank 2017 reports will undoubtedly throw shareholders into jubilation after its release on Friday during the 27th Annual General Meeting in Abuja. The bank posts an impressive all-time records N174 billion as its gross Profit-Before-Tax for the year ended 2017. The figure is 24 per cent higher than the N140 billion recorded as Profit-Before-Tax in 2016.
Speaking at the AG Meeting in Abuja on Friday, the bank’s Chairman, Jim Ovia revealed that the bank’s Profit-After-Tax rose by 32 per cent, from N119 billion in 2016 to N157 billion in 2017.
He described the performance as impressive considering the fact that 2017 was particularly a stormy financial year due to recession and other unsteady policies that threatens all sides of the economy.
He listed total deposits received within the year-ended December 31, 2017 at N2.74 trillion, representing an eight per cent increase over the previous year’s figure of N2.55trillion.
Within the period under review, total assets of the bank grew from N4.28trillion to N4.83trillion, representing 13 per cent. On the other hand, Zenith Bank’s shareholders’ fund also rose by 15 per cent, representing an increase from N616billion in 2016 to N708billion in 2017. The bank also posted positive gross earnings within the same year. For example, its gross earnings grew by 48 per cent from N455billion in 2016 to N674billion in 2017, showing strength over its folks.
Ovia said: “Zenith Bank remains committed to delivering superior returns to shareholders. In clear demonstration of this, we have declared and paid them an interim dividend of 25kobo per share in the course of the 2017 financial year”.
Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc have approved the proposal of the board to pay a final dividend of N2.45k per share to them as dividend for the 2017 financial year.
The approval was unanimously given during 27th Annual General Meeting which was held in Abuja. The approval of the N2.45k 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.
Based on the analysis of the company’s annual report, there are about 31.396 million shares held by the shareholders of the company. When multiplied by the N2.70k per share dividend, the total dividend to be paid by the bank to its shareholders will be N84.77bn.