Fidelity Bank assures shareholders of consistent dividend

The Management of Fidelity Bank Plc has assured shareholders of the company of consistency in its dividend policy, as it had been doing for the past 12 years.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, reiterated the company’s commitment to giving shareholders returns for their investment at the Annual General Meeting held in Lagos on Friday,

In response his response to a question from Patrick Ajudua, a shareholder, Okonkwo noted that  the conservative pay out was to enable the bank conserve capital for the future, while urging shareholders to watch out for a more robust dividend in years to come.

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“We want you to remember that Fidelity Bank, without fail in the last 12 years has paid dividend consistently. We are not changing our policy of paying out between 30 per cent and 50 per CNET of Profit After Tax, we will keep the policy. However, we want your bank to be strong in terms of Capital Adequacy. When the board takes a decision to pay lesser dividend than expected, just know that we are planning a bigger dividend in the future.”

Earlier in his statement, Okonkwo had projected that in 2019, the board and management of the company remained focused on the execution of the bank’s medium strategic objectives and targets for the financial year, while looking forward to sustaining the momentum and delivering another strong set of results in the next financial year.

Specifically, he explained that the introduction of artificial intelligence and robotic process automation like Chatbots in the internal process and service delivery channels of the company would be used to drive growth in all sectors currently serviced.

The leading tier-two Nigerian lender, in its 2019 first quarter financial statement has continued to soar higher, posting a double-digit growth as released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In its financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2019 released today, the bank grew its gross earnings by 11.81 per cent to N48.4 billion from N43.3 billion, while fee and commission income went up by 39.52 per cent to N6.5 billion from N4.7 billion.

In the period under review, the interest and similar income rose to N38.7 billion from N37.7 billion, with the impairment charge closing at N1 billion as at March 31, 2019 against N702 million as at March 31, 2018, with the fee and commission expense rising to N1.1 billion from N1 billion.

In Q1 2019, Fidelity Bank increased its profit before tax by 33.96 per cent to N6.7 billion from N5 billion, while the profit after tax rose by 28.38 per cent to N5.9 billion from N4.6 billion, just as  the earnings per share appreciated by 28.38 per cent to 21 kobo from 16 kobo, with the shareholders’ fund growing to N202 billion from N179.7 million.