UBA Shareholders Approve N19.9bn Dividends

• UBA Shareholders Approve N19.9bn Dividends

The shareholders of United Bank for Africa Plc have approved the payment of N19.9bn as final dividend for the financial year ended 31st December 2016, in addition to N7.3bn interim dividend paid after the audit of its 2016 half-year results.

The bank said in a statement that the shareholders unanimously approved the N0.55 per share final dividend on every ordinary share of N0.50 each during its 55th Annual General Meeting on Friday.

UBA had earlier paid an interim dividend of N0.20 per share to shareholders, bringing the total dividend for the 2016 financial year to N0.75, a growth of 25 per cent over the total dividend of N0.60 per share paid for the 2015 financial year.

Its profit before tax rose to N91bn from N68bn in 2015, while profit after tax grew to N72bn from N60bn.

The President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Alhaji Farouk Umar, was quoted as saying at the AGM, “It is obvious from the faces of shareholders that all of us are happy with the performance of the bank. We did not expect anything less because we know that that our chairman is an achiever, not only locally but also internationally. We have seen the African expansion and its contribution to our earnings and I believe this is also commendable.”

The Group Chairman, UBA, Mr. Tony Elumelu, gave credit to the chairpersons of UBA subsidiary boards across Africa, saying, “These hard working men and women, who chair the boards across our businesses in Africa, have helped contribute a third of the overall profit of the group. I believe they deserve commendation. They are strengthening the UBA brand across Africa, in line with our aspiration.”

He said the board was pleased by the financial performance that the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, and his team delivered in 2016.

“Uzoka and his team prioritise the customer and they are diligently executing the Customer First project, which the board believes will sustainably enhance the performance of the group,” he said.

Elumelu said the bank’s capital adequacy ratio of 20 per cent and 39 per cent liquidity ratio were well above the 15 per cent and 30 per cent regulatory requirement, respectively.