Six banks shareholders get N366bn dividends –Report

Investors of six Nigerian financial institutions collected about N366.93bn in final dividends in 2023.

According to The PUNCH analysis of their audited financial results filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the 2023 final dividend payout is about 30.94 per cent higher than the amount paid in the previous year.

The six banks, whose results were reviewed, paid out N280.22bn as dividends in 2022.

The 2023 audited financial statements of Access Holdings, Wema Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, United Bank for Africa and Stanbic IBTC Holdings were analysed.

Access Holdings’ directors had proposed a final dividend of N1.80k (Dec 2022: N1.30 Kobo) per ordinary share of 50 Kobo each on the 35,545,225,622 issued ordinary shares.

Although the proposed dividend is still subject to shareholders’ ratification at the next annual general meeting of the group, the investors would be getting N63.98bn as the final dividend for the year 2023, higher than N46.21bn paid in 2022.

Access Holdings had earlier paid an interim dividend of 30 kobo in 2023.

Zenith Bank has announced the highest final dividend so far at N3.50 for 2023, bringing the payout to shareholders to N109.89bn from N91.05bn in the previous year.

In addition to the N3.50 final dividend,  N0.50 had been declared as an interim dividend, bringing the total dividend to N4 per share (2022: Total dividend of N3.20), which would be paid from the bank’s retained earnings accounts as of December 2023.

Zenith Bank’s retained earnings stood at N1.18tn.

The shareholders of UBA will enjoy a N78.66bn final dividend payout at N2.30 per share, which would be paid from its retained earnings.

The bank paid a N0.50 per share interim dividend in September, bringing the total dividend for the year to N2.80.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings directors had proposed a N28.51bn final dividend for 2023, higher than the N25.91bn in 2022, following an appreciation of the dividend to N2.20 per unit.

Wema Bank’s shareholders will get a N6.43bn final dividend at N0.50, an improvement to the N3.86bn paid in 2022.

In its annual reports, Wema Bank said, “The payment will be made from the audited earnings of 2023 and not from the accumulated reserves in line with the regulatory policy. The payment of dividend is in line with the bank’s dividend policy and will go a long way to provide support to our shareholders.”

However, the shareholders of GTCO will see their final dividend payout decline to N79.46bn at N2.70 per share from N82.40bn at N2.80 per unit in 2022.

Speaking on the improvement in the dividend payout of banks, the National Coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Moses Igbrude, said, “We are absolutely very happy with the results and dividends being declared by the companies and banks. That they were able to pay something despite the challenging business environment is something to be grateful about.”

Igbrude, then, appealed to the  country’s economic managers, saying, “I sincerely appeal to  those in charge of the economy to put in place business-friendly policies to enable businesses to thrive, for investors to be happier by a good return on investment.”

The President of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association, Bisi Bakare, in a chat with The PUNCH, declared, “As an investor, we want good returns on our investment. We are very happy with the growth in the dividend payouts from banks that have released their results so far.

“No doubt, they paid more than our expectations, but like Oliver Twist, we always want more. In a nutshell, we are happy and we hope the coming year’s dividend will be better than 2023.”

Earlier this week, some analysts projected that banks may incentivise their shareholders with jumbo dividend payouts ahead of their capital-raising endeavours to meet the new requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria.