Zenith Bank Nigeria listed its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on october 21, 2004 following a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO).
This year, as the nation’s largest bank by tier-1 capital, the bank stunned the banking industry with the approval of N50 billion dividend payment, translating to N1.60 per share for its 2012 financial year.
With a profit after tax of N100,681 billion, which is 106.72 percent above the N48,704 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2011, Zenith bank is way above its peers.
The President, Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Dr. Faruk Umar, said the dividend of N1.60 kobo per share for the year 2012 impressed the shareholders.
He recalled that the bank was looking for N25bn to meet the recapitalisation hurdle set during the time of former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. The same bank has now recorded a profit after tax of over N24bn in the first quarter of 2013. Umar urged the bank to continue with the impressive results as in the 2012 financial year.
In his address, Chairman of Zenith Bank, Steve Omojafor, noted that though 2012 was challenging, the bank in line with track record, was able to exploit the opportunities within the environment, which translated into an excellent performance that attested to the durability and resilience of the brand.
According to him, apart from recording a profit after tax of N100.8 billion, the bank recorded total assets of N2.6 trillion, up from N2.33 trillion in 2011. Shareholders’ funds, he noted, grew by 17 per cent from N394.2 billion to462.9 billion in 2012, while total deposits rose from N1.66 trillion to N1.93 trillion.
“A relentless focus on our customers enabled the business to deliver the excellent result in 2012. We are evolving bigger, better and faster products with most of our service delivery engendered by rare innovations. We continue to drive dominance of our offerings in the core areas with an eye on the future,” he said.
Omojafor added that the bank entered the new financial year with confidence and remains committed to its primary goal and to driving shareholder value.
KPMG in its 2013 Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS), ranked Zenith Bank Nigeria as the best Customer-focused bank in both the retail and corporate banking categories on the basis of a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), which took into account key factors like Convenience, Product/Service Offering, Transaction Methods and Systems, Pricing and Customer Care.
The survey covered more than 14,000 retail customers, 3,000 SMEs and 400 corporate/commercial organizations across Nigeria.
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