July 15, (THEWILL) – Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest lender by market capitalisation, reaffirmed its industry leadership when the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dame Dr. Adaora Umeoji led the management team to the special forum of stakeholders and market operators on its recapitalisation drive at the bank’s capital market day in Lagos..
It was a continued success story of the bank’s remarkable triple-digit growth of 125% in gross earnings from N945.6 billion reported in 2022 to N2.132 trillion in 2023. It later announced its unaudited results for the first quarter ended 31st March 2024, also with an impressive triple-digit growth of 189% in Gross Earnings, from N270 billion reported in Q1 2023 to N781 billion in Q1 2024. This was despite the challenging operating environment and tightening monetary policy stance as the shareholders approved its holdco structure in April 2024.
The recent event, which brought together key market players and the media, focused on the bank’s growth trajectory, strategic objectives, and market performance over the years. It also provided an opportunity for the bank to inform capital market stakeholders about its robust risk management culture, adherence to regulation, ensuring capital adequacy, and maintaining low non-performing loan levels.
highlighted the financial institution’s tier-1 capital of N1.8 trillion, shareholders’ funds of N2.3 trillion, market capitalisation of N1.3 trillion, and a profit after tax of N796 billion for the year ended December 2023. She expressed confidence that, with the quality of the board and management and a strong corporate culture, the bank is well-positioned to deliver superior value to investors and other stakeholders and to navigate the recapitalisation process successfully.
She also disclosed some of the bank’s future plans, which include driving financial inclusion, expanding corporate and retail banking through technology and other state-of-the-art digital platforms, and establishing a Fintech subsidiary, ZenPay, to drive profitability. Additionally, the bank intends to expand to France and other Francophone African countries.
Dr. Umeoji explained, “For us at Zenith, we won’t be left out. We are planning to go to the market to raise capital, and as it is now, Zenith Bank has the least amount of capital to raise. We are looking to raise N230 billion because we are already at N270.7 billion. That is the least capital to raise among our peers.
“We believe that Zenith Bank has what it takes. We have the capacity, the network, the balance sheet, the human capital, and the track record to achieve that. We are planning for the future, and the technology we have now is the best in the entire industry. It will help us to have a seamless process and integrate.”
Also speaking, the Chief Financial Officer/General Manager, Dr. Mukhtar Adam, pointed out that in the last five years, the bank’s Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in revenue has grown by over 27 per cent. “This continues to grow year-on-year. Within this period, at some point, Nigeria went into recession, but we forged ahead, worked very hard, and continued to deliver growth.
Within the last five years, our profit before tax has also grown cumulatively by about 28 per cent. This is a market where, at some point, government instruments – treasury bills – were paying one per cent, two per cent, three per cent. But we forged ahead to grow the numbers and provide stable returns of at least 28 per cent.”
Zenith Bank recently emerged as the Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria, in the World Finance Banking Awards 2024, retaining the award for the fourth consecutive year. The bank was also named Best Corporate Governance, Nigeria, for the third year running in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2024. The awards, published in the Summer 2024 issue of World Finance Magazine, recognise the bank’s robust financial performance, superior customer service, sustainability initiatives, and corporate governance practices.
Commenting on the dual honours, Dr. Umeoji said, “These awards highlight our steadfast dedication to excellence, adherence to global best practices, and our persistent effort to deliver superior value to all stakeholders through innovative products and services.
“Receiving these awards consecutively for multiple years signifies the commitment of our staff, the loyalty of our customers, and the support of our shareholders. We remain devoted to setting industry benchmarks and driving excellence across all aspects of our operations.”
An investment analyst, Chris Abimola, said investors are eagerly waiting for the Zenith Bank’s capital raise to commence, and predicted that whatever the bank offers would be over-subscribed because of its outstanding performance as Nigeria’s leading financial services institution.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that Zenith Bank is the sixth most traded stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over the past three months (Apr 8 – Jul 12, 2024). It has traded a total volume of 1.5 billion shares—in 34,816 deals—valued at NGN 53 billion over the period, with an average of 23.9 million traded shares per session. A volume high of 136 million was achieved on April 12th, and a low of 4.86 million on May 17th, for the same period.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
