Sefwiman Rural Bank pays dividend to shareholders
The Sefwiman Rural Bank has announced the payment of GH¢290,353.84 as a dividend for the 2022 financial year at the rate of GH¢0.04 per share.
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Payment of the shares was in response to a request made by the management of rural bank to the Bank of Ghana to help ease the burden of the shareholders after the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) directive (NOTICE NO. BG/GOV/SEC/2020/03) dated 20th April 2020 preventing Banks from paying dividend.
In compliance with the directives of the Bank of Ghana, the bank has since then not paid any dividend to shareholders leading to the request to the BoG.
Dr Francis Kwaku Aboagye-Otchere, the Board Chairman of the Sefwiman Rural Bank, lauded the Bank of Ghana for hearing the cry of the shareholders as he encouraged them to use their dividends to buy additional shares to shore up the stated capital to reposition the bank to absorb any future shocks.
The outgoing Board Chairman announced this at the 17th annual general meeting of the bank at Bibiani in the Western North region over the weekend.
Profit Performance
The bank notwithstanding the immense challenges occasioned by the full-blown macroeconomic crisis in 2022 which resulted in the decline of the Ghanaian economic growth during the year, made giant strides.
The bank’s gross earnings increased by 13 per cent from GH¢9.36 million in 2021 to more than GH¢10.61 million at the end of 2022.
Again, Profit Before Tax which stood at GH¢1,260,586 in 2022 increased to GH¢1,442,633 representing a growth of 14 per cent over the previous year’, while Profit After Tax increased from GH¢948,168 in 2021 by 13 per cent to GH¢1,075,122 in 2022
Business Growth
The total assets of the bank at the end of 2022 was GH¢60.57 million, showing an increase of about 24 per cent compared to GH¢49.03 million in 2021, while investments increased from GH¢26.62 million in 2021 to GH¢36.30 million at the end of 2022 representing an increase of 36 per cent.
The Board Chairman Growth in loans and advances was up by 10% from GH¢14.84 million in 2021 to about GH¢16.26 million in 2022.
He attributed the gains made by the bank to its steadfast pursuit of robust growth and sustainable profitability anchored on a commitment to prudent risk management and sticking to the strategic direction of the Bank.
The Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Alex Kwasi Awuah, in an address read for him lauded the board and management of the bank for their dedication and hard work leading to improving the fortunes of the shareholders and other stakeholders of the bank.
“I wish to also commend the directors and management for spending a total of GH¢31,275 on various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives during the year. This is encouraging as it shows that the bank remains committed to supporting life-changing community development programmes”.
The Chief Executive of the bank, Mr Richard Kwame Adjei, attributed the gains made by the bank to the preparedness of the staff and management to liaise with the board to work as a team.
He pledged to continue to create a very conducive environment for all stakeholders towards easy operations that would meet the needs of all players in the industry.