Goddy Egene
The board of directors of United Capital Plc, an investing banking firm, has recommended a dividend of N3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2019. The dividend, which translates into 50 kobo per share, will be paid from the N4.97 billion profit after tax (PAT) recorded for the year.
In the audited results, United Capital Plc posted a revenue of N8.598 billion in 2019, compared with N9.26 billion in 2018. PAT rose by 15 per cent from N4.34 billion to N4.97 billion in 2019. Shareholders’ funds grew to N19.59 billion, from N15.83 billion in 2018.
Commenting on the results, Group Chief Executive Officer of United Capital, Mr. Peter Ashade said: “In spite of the challenging operating environment that was experienced in 2019, United Capital Plc group have been able to consistently improve in its performance recording a 15 per cent increase in PAT and earnings per share. This increase was driven majorly by the growth in our net interest margin, fees and commission as well as an efficient tax management strategy. We expect an appreciable growth in our revenue as we roll out our various strategic initiatives for the year 2020.”
According to Ashade, going into 2020, the focus of the company would be to execute strategic imperatives targeted at strengthening its business to customer model and scale up activities to drive growth across all subsidiaries, aggressively drive its assets under management to sustainably increase annual fee income, as well as the establishment of innovative cost containment mechanisms through effective budgeting.”
“In line with our strategy for the 2020 business year, we would continue to push further our cost-optimisation initiatives as well as implement phased automation of our business processes whilst upholding our commitment to ensuring a significant improvement in profitability trend across the group businesses, as we focus on providing exciting customer experience to our numerous client segments,” he added.
