One of Nigeria’s leading financial institution, Zenith Bank has announced its audited results for the half year ended 30 June, recording positive growth across key financial metrics while proposing an interim dividend pay-out of 30 kobo per share.
In the audited report, gross earnings grew from N322.2bn to N331.6bn, representing 3% increase, and driven by a significant growth of 24% (YoY) in non-interest income from N88.6 billion in H1 2018 to N109.7 billion in H1 2019.
In particular, fees from electronic products increased by N17bn (168%) from N10bn in H1 2018 to N27 in H1 2019, demonstrating significant progress in its retail banking initiatives.
The top-line growth filtered through to the bottom-line as Profit Before Tax (PBT) increased to N111.7 billion reflecting a 4% growth over N107.4 billion reported in H1 2018 with earnings per share (EPS) increasing by 9% to N2.83 in H1 2019 from N2.60 compared to the prior period.
Meanwhile between the months under review, Zenith Bank grew its deposit base by 3% with retail deposits growing by N267 billion (31%), from N861 billion to close at N1.1 trillion.
Despite the growth in the bank’s deposit base, it optimized interest expense leading to a 4% reduction from N74.7 billion to N72.1 billion due to the Group’s improved funding mix and our profound treasury management skills.
Similarly, the bank’s robust risk management ensured that its absolute Gross Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) remained flat. However, the marginal movement in NPL ratio was as a result of the 3% reduction in the loan book from N2.02 trillion as at December 2018 to N1.95 trillion at the end of the period.
According to a statement from the bank, Zenith Bank is creatively deploying new retail loan products to ensure it captures a reasonable share of the retail loan market.
“We remain committed to maintaining our strong balance sheet with liquidity ratio at 74.6% and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) at 25%, ensuring we remain above regulatory thresholds.
“Going into the second half of the year, we will continue to consolidate our leadership in the corporate space while our retail banking drive will continue unabated. We expect to see an improvement in economic activities even as we maintain our promise of delivering a unique service experience to our customers,” the statement added.
Zenith Bank was recently ranked as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in 2018 by The Banker Magazine. Similarly, the bank was recognized as the Best Corporate Governance Bank in Nigeria by The World Finance for the sixth time just as Ethical Boardroom, a Europe based Boardroom watchdog reaffirmed this recognition by naming the bank as the Best Bank in Corporate Governance in 2018.
Recognition has also come the way of the bank as it was recently named as the Best Institution in Sustainability Reporting in Africa 2018 (SERAS Awards) and the Bank of the Year 2018 (BusinessDay).