If you look at our bank’s history over the years, Zenith Bank has always grown- says Ebenezer Onyeagwu,

Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc, at its 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Lagos, unanimously approved a proposed final dividend, of N2.80 per share bringing its total dividend for the 2021 financial year to N3.10 per share amounting to N97.33 billion.

In his statement, Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, thanked the shareholders for their unflinching loyalty, which has enabled the bank to rise to the pinnacle of the nation’s financial services industry, while assuring them of the bank’s commitment to consistently deliver superior value to them.

Speaking on the bank’s performance, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said: “If you look at our bank’s history over the years, Zenith Bank has always grown, and even within the pandemic, we have maintained a reasonable positive growth trajectory. Growth is coming from the fact that we are deploying our digital capability to grow more businesses, simplify our service processes, make our processes more efficient, and deal with customers’ complaints. Apart from developing new products, we are discovering new business verticals, especially within the retail segment, which have significant revenue.” He added that: “meeting the expectation of shareholders means we have to work harder. The team is dodged, hardworking, resilient, and above all, we have a very supportive board that comes with superior guidance”.

Commenting on the dividend payout, the Chairman Emeritus of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, expressed the delight of shareholders over the consistent payment of dividends by Zenith Bank, noting that the bank’s shares remain the toast of investors because its consistent dividends to shareholders.

Also speaking on behalf of shareholders, the President of the Association of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), Dr. Faruk Umar, said: “The bank is doing very well. All the ratios and indices have gone up. And more importantly, while we were in the meeting, I got my credit alert for my dividend. This is very commendable. The leadership of the bank has been very effective; we thank Jim Ovia for the leadership he has been giving, he has increased the dividend in spite of the economic hardship in the country, and I believe the GMD is doing very well. I commend the management and staff of the bank, including the board, and I am very confident that this year would also be very good for the bank.” Dr. Umar also commended the Group Managing Director for the numerous awards the bank received in 2021, especially the sustainability awards.

In spite of a challenging macroeconomic environment aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Zenith Bank Group achieved year-on-year (YoY) growth in gross earnings of 10 percent from N696.5 billion reported in the previous year to N765.6billion. This was on the back of a 23 percent YoY growth in non-interest income from N251.7billion to N309billion and a 2 percent YoY growth in interest income from N420.8billion to NGN427.6billion.

Raphael reporting