James Emejo in Abuja
The Bank of Industry (BoI) has said its Profit Before Tax (PBT) increased by 75 per cent to N61.15 billion in the 2021 financial year.
The bank also declared a dividend payment of N7.89 billion to its two shareholders namely the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Chairman of BoI, Mallam Aliyu Dikko, at its 62nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held over the weekend in Abuja, said the dividend payout demonstrated the bank’s capacity to withstand economic headwinds to boost the federal government’s revenue.
He told THISDAY, “You know we were just coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. In 2020, business was challenging, we had to give a lot of concessions to our customers in 2020.
“Even though this continued in 2021, because of the increase in businesses in 2021 when you compare to 2020, we were able to make profits in 2021 better than the previous year.
“In spite of all the concessions we have given to our clients, we were still able to manage costs very well as well as recorded these profits.”
Also speaking at the AGM, the ban’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, said the upward trajectory in the bank’s performance has enabled it to attract local and foreign capital in order to fulfill the obligations of its mandate.
According to him, the development finance institution successfully issued a €750 million Eurobond recently to enhance its capital base to support customers and the real sector of the Nigerian economy.
While reaffirming the bank’s continued efforts toward supporting its stakeholders and achieving its mandate, he said, “Our commitment to building a resilient organisation that can respond to the needs of our customers and operating challenges is unwavering. We strongly believe that we can achieve this with the continuous support of all our stakeholders.”
Pitan said, “It is the 62nd AGM of the bank and it was a very successful one. The profit before tax (PBT) for the group was over N62 billion and this is the best result the bank has experienced since it was set up over 62 years ago.
“The balance sheet is roughly N1.7 trillion and has grown in leaps and bounds over the last four years. This year already, we have raised 750 Euros from the first Eurobond that we did in February this year.”
In the year under review, the bank disbursed a total of N213.63 billion to 30,406 Nigerian enterprises through both direct and indirect methods.”
