Feb 23 (Lagos) - Zenith Bank Plc (
ZENITHBANK ) claimed first place in terms of reporting time of annual results ahead of GTB (
GUARANTY ) that many consider to be Nigeria's number one bank. In terms of reporting results in a timely manner it can be safely said that Zenith is no.1 now. The bragging rights lie with Zenith now and shareholders of gtb still waiting for the results.
In dividend terms also they may leave gtb behind as their dividend yield is 12.5% based on the N 2.5 dividend they have proposed. The shares however failed to rally as expected by their shareholders because the dividend payout ratio is only 37.5% and they could have done better given the EPS of N 6.65 per unit.
Another reason could also be the fact that their Net interest income declined in 2019 to N 267 billion from N 295 billion in 2018. That means their interest income declined and interest expense increased. The increase in profit after tax was due to decline in operating expenses and increase in trading income and income on fees and commissions.
Smart investors are not likely to miss these points from the annual result and not only look at the Profit after tax of N 208 billion for the full year.
All eyes will now be in
GUARANTY to catch up to
ZENITHBANK and report on Monday as their reputation is on stake now. Last year GTB had a dividend payout ratio of 45% so shareholders will expect them to do better that that this year. Otherwise it will not be exciting enough for shares to rally sharply.
Whether shareholders of Zenith will be too happy with that result and dividend or not is debatable but one thing they can be happy about is that their bank just became number one to report financial results and that itself is a great position to be in.
reporting for easykobo.com on Sunday, Feb 23 2020 from Lagos, Nigeria