Shareholders of the United Bank for Africa Plc have lauded the efforts of the bank’s management to position it among leading institutions in the country as it approved the payment of N19.9 billion as final dividend for the financial year ended 31st December 2016.
The investors, who unanimously approved the N0.55/share final dividend on every ordinary share of N0.50 each, said they were particularly impressed by the new Group Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, who delivered unprecedented results to shareholders at the inaugural Annual General Meeting.
President, Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Alhaji Farouk Umar, said, “It is obvious from the faces of shareholders that all of us are happy with the performance of the bank.
We did not expect anything less because we know that that our chairman is an achiever not only locally but also internationally.
We have seen the African expansion and its contribution to our earnings and I believe this is also commendable.”
The bank had earlier paid an interim dividend of N0.20/share to shareholders, bringing the total dividend for the 2016 financial year to N0.75kobo, an impressive 25 per cent growth over the total dividend of N0.60/share paid for the 2015 financial year.
“We are excited at the sterling performance of the Group, an impressive 22 per cent year-on-year growth in gross earnings and an outstanding 32 per cent year-on-year growth in profit to N91 billion, in what analysts described as an attestation to UBA’s resilience and enhanced productivity,” another investor, Chief Toye Ayorinde said.
Worthy of note to the shareholders is the contribution from the Group’s African subsidiaries, emphasising its earnings diversification, across geographies which reduce the Group’s vulnerability to macroeconomic pressures in any single market.
The Group’s ex-Nigeria subsidiaries contributed 32 per want to measure recovery in an economy, you look at the standard of living, then the per capita income. How many Nigerians can still boast of three square meals per day?”
Ganiyu noted that, considering the salary of many Nigerians, not many people could afford the low cost houses the government was building, adding that the standard of living was not improving, but decreasing on a daily basis.
This, he said, was the reason more than 10 individuals would live in the same room. BRIEF NBC complies with existing regulations on food preservation – NIFST cent of the Group’s profit in 2016, compared to a quarter of profit contribution in the 2015 financial year.
Uzoka said despite the challenging operating environment, the Group recorded an impressive 22 per cent growth in gross earnings to N384 billion in 2016, from N315 billion in the 2015 financial year, illustrating the Bank’s resilience and tenacity to generate earnings even in periods of economic slowdown.
He explained that the Group further achieved a significant 32 per cent growth in profit before tax to N91 billion, compared to N68 billion profits recorded over the same period of 2015.
UBA’s profit after tax grew by 22 per cent to N72 billion, from N60 billion recorded the previous year. The Group Chairman, UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, gave credit to the chairpersons of UBA subsidiary Boards across Africa, saying, “These hard working men and women, who chair the boards across our businesses in Africa, have helped contribute a third of the overall profit of the Group. I believe they deserve commendation.
They are strengthening UBA brand across Africa, in line with our aspiration.” Elumelu was particularly pleased with the bank’s new CEO, Kennedy Uzoka. “At the Board level, we are extremely pleased by the financial performance that Kennedy and his team delivered in 2016.
Kennedy and his team prioritize the Customer and they are diligently executing the Customer First project, which the Board believes will sustainably enhance the performance of the Group,” he said.
“Our results show the tenacity and enterprise of our management team and staff. More important is our ability to proactively meet customers’ need.
I am pleased that UBA maintains some of the best prudential ratios in the industry, as our capital adequacy ratio of 20 per cent and 39 per cent liquidity ratio are well above the 15 per cent and 30 per cent regulatory requirement respectively,” he added.
