UBA approves N27.2bn dividends for shareholders
The shareholders of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc have approved the payment of N19.9 billion as final dividend for the financial year ended December 2016. This is in addition to N7.3billion interim dividend paid after the audit of its 2016 half year results.
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The shareholders unanimously approved the N0.55/share final dividend on every ordinary share of N0.50 each
At the bank’s annual general meeting, the new Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, said UBA had earlier paid an interim dividend of N0.20/share to shareholders, bringing the total dividend for the 2016 financial year to N0.75kobo, representing a 25 per cent growth over the total dividend of N0.60/share paid for the 2015 financial year.
Furthermore, the total dividend of N0.75/share translates to a yield of 14.3 per cent when put in the perspective of UBA’s share price of N5.26 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as at the close of market on Friday, April 07, 2017.
The shareholders expressed delight at the 22 per cent year-on-year growth in gross earnings and a 32 per cent performance, year-on-year growth in profit to N91billion, in what analysts described as an attestation to UBA’s resilience and enhanced productivity.
They also acknowledged the contribution from the Group’s African subsidiaries, which emphasised ensured earnings diversification across geographies which reduced the Group’s vulnerability to macroeconomic pressures in any single market.
The Group’s ex-Nigeria subsidiaries contributed 32 per cent of the Group’s profit in 2016, compared to a quarter of profit contribution in the 2015 financial year.
The Group recorded a 22 per cent growth in gross earnings to N384billion in 2016, from N315billion in the 2015 financial year, illustrating the Bank’s resilience and tenacity.
The Group’s profit after tax grew by 22 per cent to N72 billion, from N60 billion recorded the previous year.
President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Alhaji Farouk Umar, said at the AGM, “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 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.”
He said “At the Board level, we are extremely pleased by the financial performance from the new CEO of the bank and what his team delivered in 2016. Mr Uzoka and his team prioritise the customer and they are diligently executing the customer first project, which the board believes will sustainably enhance the performance of the Group’ said Elumelu.
“Our results show the tenacity and enterprise of our management team and staff. More importantly 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.