The Board of Directors of Zenith Bank Plc will on Thursday meet to discuss the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020.
It is also expected that board will consider a final dividend for the year, having paid an interim dividend of 30 kobo per share last year.
According to the financial institution, audited results would only be published after relevant regulatory approval.
Zenith Bank had at the end of the 2019 financial year paid a final dividend of N2.50 per share, bringing the total dividend payment for the 2019 financial year to N2.80 per share with a total value of N87.9 billion.
According to the audited financial results for the 2019 financial year, Zenith Bank recorded a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N208.8 billion, an increase of 8per cent from the N193 billion recorded in the previous year, thus achieving the feat as the first Nigerian bank to cross the N200 billion mark.
The Group also recorded a growth in gross earnings of 5per cent rising to N662.3 billion from N630.3 billion reported in the previous year. This growth was driven by the 29per cent increase in non-interest income from N179.9 billion in 2018 to N231.1 billion in 2019.
Fees on electronic products continue to grow significantly with a 108per cent Year on Year (Y-o-Y) growth from N20.4 billion in 2018 to N42.5 billion in the current year. This is a validation of the bank’s retail transformation strategy which continues to deliver impressive results.
Profit before tax also increased by 5per cent growing from N232 billion to N243 billion in the current year, arising from topline growth and continued focus on cost optimisation strategies. Cost-to-income ratio moderated from 49.3per cent to 48.8per cent.
The drive for cheaper retail deposits coupled with the low-interest yield environment helped reduce the cost of funding from 3.1per cent to 3.0per cent. However, this also affected net interest margin, which reduced from 8.9per cent to 8.2per cent in the current year due to re-pricing of interest-bearing assets. Although returns on equity and assets held steady YoY at 23.8per cent and 3.4per cent respectively, the Group still delivered an improved Earnings per Share (EPS) which grew 8per cent from N6.15 to N6.65 in the current year.
The Group in 2019 increased its share of the market as it secured increased customer deposits across the corporate and retail space as deposits grew by 15per cent to close at N4.26 trillion. Total assets also increased by 7per cent from N5.96 trillion to N6.35 trillion.
The Group created new viable risk assets as gross loans grew by 22per cent from N2.016 trillion to N2.462 trillion. This was executed prudently at a low cost of risk of 1.1per cent and a significant reduction in the non-performing loan ratio from 4.98per cent to 4.30per cent. Prudential ratios such as liquidity and capital adequacy ratios also remained above regulatory thresholds at 57.3per cent and 22.0per cent respectively.
