Uche Usim, Abuja
Jaiz Bank Plc, Nigeria’s first premier non-interest bank, has earmarked N884 million to pay its first dividend for its shareholders since its creation.
The approved dividend payment is N0.03 kobo per 50 kobo ordinary share for the year ended 2019.
At its 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Bank’s Head Office in Abuja, the Chairman of the bank, Umaru Abdul Mutallab, said the total N884 million dividend payment was subject to appropriate withholding tax.
He said: ‘This dividend, despite being modest, signifies a lot to our shareholders, board and management. We remain strongly committed to sustaining the tempo in the coming year, God willing.’
The payment will be made electronically to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at 26th June 2020. They must have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts.
The bank declared a profit after tax of N2.4 billion in its audited financial results for the year 2019, showing a surge of 193 per cent from N834.4 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2018.
The bank also declared a 135 per cent increase in profit before tax for the period under review from N879.7 million recorded in 2018 to N2.1 billion as of 2019.
Highlights of the audited financial statement showed that gross income grew by 80 per cent to N13.5 billion in 2019, from N7.5 billion recorded in 2018, while total assets gained 54 per cent to N167.27 billion in 2019 from N108.46 billion recorded in 2018.
Speaking at the AGM, the Managing Director, Hassan Usman said that the progress the bank recorded in 2019 was broad-based apart from a stronger income statement and balance sheet.
He said: ‘We have equally tackled our efficiency base, with the consequent reduction in our cost-income-ratio (CIR) from 87.28 per cent in 2018 to 80.21 per cent in 2019. We have equally delivered stronger Return on Equity (RoE) of 13.57 per cent during the year (a significant increase of over 100 per cent when compared with that of 2018).’
He said the bank is strongly committed to creating optimum value to all its stakeholders.