It was all good news for shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc, at the 30th Annual General Meeting of the Bank held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, as they unanimously approved the proposed final dividend of N2.70 per share, bringing the total dividend payment for the 2020 financial year to N3.00 per share with a total value of N94.19 billion. This followed the recent release of the Bank’s audited financial results for the 2020 financial year.
According to the audited financial results, profit before tax (PBT) rose by 5% to N255.9 billion from N243.3 billion reported in the previous year despite a challenging macro-economic environment exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic.
The increase arose from a mixture of growth in the topline and a significant reduction in interest expense from N148.5 billion in 2019 to N121.1 billion in 2020, significantly increasing the net interest income from NGN267.0 billion in 2019 to NGN299.7 billion in 2020.
In recognition of its track record of excellent performance, Zenith Bank was voted as Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020, Best Bank in Nigeria in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards 2020 and Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa 2020 by the Ethical Boardroom. Also, the bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria, for the fourth consecutive year, in the Banker Magazine “Top 500 Banking Brands 2021” and Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital in the “2020 Top 1000 World Banks” Ranking published by The Banker Magazine. Similarly, the bank was recognised as Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020, Retail Bank of the year at the 2020 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards, and Best Company in Promotion of Good Health and Well-Being as well as Best Company in Promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2020.
