Zenith Bank proposes final dividend of N2.80 kobo, earnings yield tops 11%

Zenith Bank Plc is the earliest bird among the Tier-1 lenders to release its financials for the year ended December 31, 2018.

The bank reported gross earnings for the financial year of N630.344 billion, the results released to the investing public at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) shows.

From the retained earnings account as at December 31, 2018, the board of directors of Zenith Bank Plc recommended a final dividend of N2.50kobo for every 50kobo share,  in addition to the 30kobo per share paid as interim dividend, bringing the total dividend for the financial year in review to N2.80kobo.

The bank’s profit before taxation (PBT) at N231.68billion against N199.319 billion represents 16.2percent increase in the review year.

Zenith Bank traded at N24.75 per share as at 12.12pm on Tuesday an increase of 75kobo or 3.03percent. Zenith is among analysts stock picks for the year 2019; it trades at a positive return of 4.1percent year-to-date (ytd).

The market cap of Zenith Bank Plc is in excess of N753.515billion on shares outstanding of 31,396,493,786 units. Basic and diluted earnings per share stood at N 6.15 in the review financial year as against N5.53 in 2017. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio increased to 4.98percent from a low of 4.70percent in 2017.

This dividend proposal will be presented for ratification by the shareholders at the bank’s next Annual General Meeting.

Zenith Bank Plc has six subsidiary companies namely, Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited, Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited, Zenith Bank (UK) Limited, Zenith Bank (Sierra Leone) Limited, Zenith Bank (The Gambia) Limited and Zenith Nominees Limited. During the year, the Bank opened five new branches and no branch was closed.

As at December 31, 2018 the Group had 417 branches, 256 cash centres; 1,891 ATM terminals; 34,006 POS terminals and 5,732,820 cards issued to its customers.