Zenith Bank posts another monumental result
By Tayo Odunlami
Zenith Bank plc has declared gross earnings of N158.29billion for the financial year which ended on 31 June 2008, a 67 per cent increase over the N94.88billion declared last year.
The unaudited result for the 2007/2008 financial year released last Tuesday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange also showed improved profitability, with profit before tax jumping by an impressive 96 per cent from the N25.67billion recorded last year to N50.28billion. Profit after tax jumped by 119 per cent from N18.77billion last year to N41.04 billion.
The result enhances Zenith Bank’s reputation as a market leader, especially with regards to return on investment. The outstanding result would further endear the Zenith stock to shareholders who have reaped excellent returns on their investment, especially since the bank went public in 2004. Since the bank’s Initial Public Offering four years ago, shareholders have received a return of 322 per cent, including bonus issues and dividend pay-out. Shareholders have benefited from a generous dividend pay-out of N20billion since then.
Every year since that IPO, Zenith Bank has scored high on credibility among investors for usually surpassing the dividend projections made with each payout. The bank surpassed its dividend projections of N5.1billion for 2006 by actually paying out a 29.6 per cent increase of N6.6 billion. In 2007, it also surpassed its projections of N7.6billion by paying out N9.2billion, a 21 per cent increase.The sterling performance of Zenith Bank has not gone unrecognised both at home and abroad. It emerged as the Quoted Company of the Year 2007 in the annual ratings of quoted companies by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE. Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Governor of the CBN, described that feat as a clear reflection of the vibrant and dynamic status of the nation’s capital market. Although the Zenith stock is relatively new, it had by the end of January this year emerged the fifth most capitalised stock at the NSE with a market capitalisation of N533.81billion. The bank has virtually changed the way banks respond to their social environment by devoting over 1 per cent of its profit before tax to philanthropy. It donates generously to charitable institutions, individuals and government. Beneficiaries of its generosity include schools, religious organisations, the armed forces, the Prisons Service, sports, arts and culture. The bank spent billions of naira on the reconstruction of Ajose Adeogun Street on Victoria Island, Lagos, N52.5million on sports and N30.67million on educational development in 2007 alone. In recognition of its corporate social responsibility, Zenith won the Banker Award organised by African Business magazine in October last year.
The impressive performance of Zenith Bank over the years has won it recognition and several awards locally and internationally. It was named Bank of the Year 2005 by The Banker, a subsidiary publication of the influential Financial Times of London and Most Respected Bank in Nigeria in 2005, according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and BusinessDay newspaper. Last year, KPMG, a foremost accounting firm, named it the Most Customer-Focused Bank in Nigeria from a survey of 25 Nigerian banks. Zenith Bank has over the years earned excellent ratings from local and international agencies. Fitch Ratings, a highly respected international ratings agency, has continually rated it AA (long-term) and FH (short-term). These ratings reflect Zenith Bank’s strong domestic franchise, good asset quality and sound earnings record.
On the local scene, Zenith Bank has maintained a triple A (Aaa) rating for seven consecutive years since 1999 as adjudged by Augusto and Co, Nigeria’s foremost rating agency. The agency has always categorised the bank as “a financial institution of impeccable financial condition and overwhelming capacity to meet obligations as and when they fall due.” Zenith Bank intends to build a power station, a feat that will make it the first in the history of the Nigerian banking industry, just as it is determined to strengthen its participation in the real sector and infrastructure financing.
AKINOLA M.A.
30 August 2008 16:47Zenith Bank plc is consolidating it financial base…The last bonus and dividends of 1 for 4 and #1.00 respectively are yet to be paid since over 1 year it has been declared…What sort of consolidation is this?when a bank declared such huge profit without carrying customers along then, the moral value system of organisation is very low…too bad!