Shareholders of FCMB Group Plc have approved the payment of N2.97bn dividend, translating to 15 kobo per ordinary share for the year ended December 31, 2020, as against 14 kobo per share in 2019.
A statement from the bank titled ‘Shareholders applaud FCMB, approve dividend of N2.97bn at AGM’ said the shareholders gave the approval at the 8th annual general meeting of the group which held virtually on Wednesday.
Speaking at the meeting, the statement said the Co-ordinator of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Sir Sunny Nwosu, praised the institution for efficiently running its affairs and for the appreciable growth recorded in key operating areas.
Presenting the report for the year ended December 31, 2020, the Chairman, FCMB Group, Mr Oladipupo Jadesimi, assured that FCMB Group was well positioned to continue to succeed in the years to come, even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He attributed the optimism to the decisions that the financial institution had made over the past few years, especially those around leveraging new digital technology, to expand access to financial transactions.
“Board of directors has adopted a policy that seeks to provide investors with a stable and sustainable form of capital distribution with consideration given to the growth and capital requirements of the business, thereby maximising long-term share value for shareholders,” he said.
The Group Chief Executive, FCMB Group Plc, Mr Ladi Balogun, reported that in spite of the challenging macroeconomic environment, the group grew profit after tax by 13.4 per cent to N19.7bn.
He added that this the increase had a direct correlation with earnings per share, which grew from 87 kobo in 2019 to 98 kobo in 2020, while return on average equity also rose to 9.2 per cent from nine per cent.
He stated, “Our businesses continue to improve with growth in other key indicators, such as loans and advances 14.9 per cent and total assets 23.4 per cent.
“Customer deposits grew by 33.3 per cent to over N1.2tn with a large portion of the growth coming from current and savings accounts.”
He added that the customer base of the group also increased from 6.8 million to 8.3 million.
