The Bank of Industry yesterday announced a 2020 performance that showed its strength and resilience despite the headwinds generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, fall in crude oil prices and the general fall of business.
At its 2020 Annual General Meeting, held virtually in Abuja, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, BoI, Mr. Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko, noted that despite the challenging year, BoI’s Group total assets grew from N1.04 trillion in 2019, to N1.86 trillion in 2020.
He attributed the 79.1 per cent growth increase largely to the successful debt syndications of €1 billion and $1 billion that were concluded in March and December 2020 respectively.
The Group’s total equity also increased by 15.3 per cent from N293.08 billion in the previous year to N336.48 billion in 2020; while loans and advances, affected by the adverse impact of the challenging operating environment on growth of new loans, grew in 2020 by 1.3 per cent to N749.84 billion in the year under review.
According to a statement, economic slowdown in the year as well as the various interventions and support initiated by the Bank for its customers, impacted on its profit before tax which fell by 9.6 per cent to N35.54 billion.
Dikko said rising up to its responsibilities, the Bank, through its partnership with the federal government on the National Social Intervention Programme, facilitated the disbursement N2.5 billion and N1.2 billion under the N-Power and Government Enterprise & Empowerment Programmes to 300,011 and 109,039 beneficiaries respectively.
He explained that living up to its reputation as a socially responsible organisation, “it donated the sum of N962 million towards the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) and other initiatives at the Federal and State levels to address the negative impact of the pandemic.
“We also reduced interest rates on all BOI-funded projects by two per cent per annum, from 10 per cent to eight per cent – for a one-year period, and granted additional moratorium of three months on principal repayment granted to all beneficiaries.
“Furthermore, the Bank carried out the directive of the CBN, by reviewing and restructuring all projects managed under the CBN Intervention programme with moratorium extension of three months (with a possible extension to 12 months) and interest rate reduction to five per cent per annum.
“In the same vein, the Bank worked with the Nigerian Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) to implement the reduction of interest rate on all credit facilities under the Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund from eight per cent per annum, to six per cent, including extension of moratorium period,” it added.
In his remarks, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Kayode Pitan noted that like every organisation across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the bank’s operations and performance in 2020.
But he said the bank continues to be relentless in its mission to support enterprises across the country.
“Now more than ever, we have to stay firm in our course to make Nigerian enterprises more competitive and promote industrialisation in the country.
“Our commitment to building a customer-focused organisation is unwavering, and we believe that our activities in the year are proof of such commitment,” he said.
He listed some major highlights of the year to include the Bank’s conclusion of a syndicated debt raising deal of €1 billion in the year from international lenders – the transaction had Credit Suisse A.G., Africa Export Import (AFREXIM) Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation act as co-Lead Arrangers, Bookrunners and Underwriters.
This loan was launched at €750 million, but was over-subscribed and thereafter up-sized to €1 billion.
Others included the successful re-financing of its $750 million AFREXIM loan that was initially raised in 2018. The deal, which also had Credit Suisse A.G. and AFREXIM Bank act as co-ordinating mandated Arrangers, Underwriters and Bookrunners, was also over-subscribed and upsized to US$1 billion marking the Bank’s third major international debt raising activity within the last 3 years; approval of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) of the expansion of the Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund from $200 million to $350 million, and the selection of BOI as the implementing agency of the FG’s National LPG expansion programme aimed at considerably improving the adoption and use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) among the populace through the combination of awareness/sensitisation, infrastructure delivery and funding.
