Goddy Egene
Shareholders of Access Bank Plc on Wednesday said they were pleased with the bank’s consistent dividend policy which has made them to receive dividend every year.
Access Bank Plc recommended a total dividend of 65 kobo for the year ended December 31, 2017. An interim dividend of 25 kobo and a final one of 40 kobo, bringing the gross dividend for the year to N18.8 billion.
Speaking at the 29th annual general meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, the shareholders commended the dividend payout and the bank’s attainment of N4 trillion total assets.
According to them, the remarked that the N4 trillion balance sheet mark achieved by the bank had solidified its position as a major player in the financial sector.
The shareholders that spoke included contributed at the meeting include Mr. Adebayo Adeleke of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Mrs Bisi Bakare of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN) and Muktar Muktar of Trusted Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (TSAN).
The bank posted a gross earnings of N459.1 billion, profit of N61.991 billion in 2017. Shareholders’ funds and customer deposits stood at N515 billion and N2.2 trillion respectively.
Speaking at the AGM, the Group Managing Director/CEO of the bank, Herbert Wigwe said: “We are having increase on all indices; Earnings per share, cost of risk and capital adequacy ratio which are the major ratios financial institutions are measured by. Looking at the top-line of major banks, we are doing well. The new phase of our five-year corporate strategic plan will extensively cover what we could not achieve in the previous phase. We shall continue to invest in staff trainings in order to ensure our staff remain one of the best amongst their colleagues in the industry. As a customer friendly institution we have set-up an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) centre and ombudsman complaints Call Centre to tackle issues from customers.â€
Commenting on the results, Wigwe said their operating performance in 2017 was impacted by the residual effects of macro-economic conditions of 2016, characterised by slow economic expansion and adverse credit conditions, which resulted in making conservative provisions on our loan book.
“ Despite the macro and regulatory headwinds, our underlying business remained strong as reflected in the gross earnings growth of 20 per cent to N459 billion in 2017. We grew our loan book to position it for improved earnings, whilst driving deposit mobilisation from targeted segments to diversify our funding base,†he said.
