The shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc have approved a total dividend of N883.9m, representing three kobo per share, for the 2020 financial year.
A statement from the bank, titled ‘Jaiz Bank Plc to pay N883.9m dividend to shareholders’, said this was disclosed at the bank’s 9th annual general meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.
The Chairman of the bank, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said the bank worked assiduously towards ensuring that the dividend payment was made to the shareholders to meet their aspirations.
He added that despite the challenging economic environment that was aggravated by COVID-19 pandemic, gross earnings rose by 33 per cent from N14.7bn in 2019 to N19.6bn in 2020.
Jaiz Bank said its profit before tax rose by 45 per cent to N3.10bn from the N2.11bn recorded in the previous year.
It said there was an increase in the profit after tax from N2.44bn in the preceding year to N2.9bn for the year ended December 31, 2020, adding that this reflected the continuous growth in profitability witnessed by the bank over the last three years.
The bank said its total assets during the year under review grew by 40 per cent to N233.66bn from N167.33bn realised in the previous year.
Earnings per share increased from 8.29 kobo in 2019 to 9.85 kobo in 2020, while return on equity for the year under review stood at 17 per cent, securing a place for the bank among the top four quoted banks with the highest return to shareholders in the country.
In his speech, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Hassan Usman, said the bank had demonstrated financial resilience by remaining profitable during a tumultuous year.
He assured stakeholders of the board’s commitment to continue to sustain the positive trend.
Punch