Enko Opportunity Growth Fund Ltd, linked to Mr. Alain Nkontchou, a Director of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), has invested a total sum of N3.8 billion in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Enko Opportunity Growth Fund, a hedge fund company, acquired a total of 322,010,114 shares at N11.83 a unit in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated between March 30, 2022 to May 5, 2022, the bank disclosed this in a statement signed by Madibinet Cisse, Company Secretary.
The transaction was carried out at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) trading floor in Lagos, Nigeria.
The investment, classified as insider trading, was reported on Friday in line with the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) despite commencing purchase in March. Meaning, the announcement was done to further strengthen the bank’s perception among investors, especially after announcing strong positive financial results for the first half of 2022.
For the first half of 2022, Ecobank announced a 24% increase in profit after tax from N62.553 billion to N77.313 billion.
Commenting on the sound performance, Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group, said our results for the first six months of 2022 reflect not only the benefits of the firm’s diversification but also our resilience and capabilities to continue serving our clients and customers in a challenging environment and still generate adequate returns responsibly for our shareholders. As a result, we delivered a return on tangible equity of 19.5%, a record, and increased earnings per share for shareholders by 24% year-on-year.
In addition, profit before tax increased by 24% to $261 million and by 53% if you adjust the increase for the significant depreciation of some of our critical African currencies to the US dollar, says Ade Ayeyemi, CEO, Ecobank Group.