H1 2018: Zenith Bank Profit up by 8.5%, Revenue Drops 15.3%

**Declares Interim Dividend

By Dipo Olowookere

The board of Zenith Bank Plc on Monday, August 6, 2018 announced the financial statements of the financial institution for the period ended June 30, 2018.

In the firm’s earnings briefly analysed by Business Post, the lender recorded a drop in its turnover for the period under review; N322.2 billion versus N380.4 billion in the same period of last year, representing about 15.3 percent decline.

However, the bank’s profit before tax appreciated by 16.5 percent to N107.4 billion compared with the N92.2 billion reported in the first half of 2017.

Also, the profit after tax of the company went up by 8.5 percent to N81.7 billion from N75.3 billion in H1 2017.

In the financial scorecard, Zenith Bank raked N228.7 billion from interest and similar income in contrast to N262.3 billion earned in the same period of last, while the interest and similar expense dropped to N74.7 billion in H1 2018 from N123.3 billion in H1 2017.

For the net interest income, the lender posted N154 billion against N139 billion 12 months ago, while the impairment loss on financial assets stood at N9.7 billion versus N42.4 billion exactly a year ago.

Under the fee and commission income, the bank posted N46.7 billion against N37.8 billion in the first half of last year, while N36.8 billion was earned from trading gains in contrast to N65.3 billion.

During the period under review, Zenith Bank spent N34.8 billion on its personnel against N31 billion 12 months ago, while N86.5 billion was used as operating expenses in the first six months of this year against N85.3 billion used for same purpose in the same period of 2017.

Business Post gathered from the financial statements that the sum of N10 billion was realized from other operating income in H1 2018 against N15.1 billion in H1 2017, while the bank reported N8 billion under the depreciation of property and equipment versus N5.5 billion last year.

In addition, under the amortisation of intangible assets, Zenith Bank posted N1.1 billion in contrast to N756 million in the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, Zenith Bank on Monday announced that its board has proposed the payment of an interim dividend to shareholders.

In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the lender said it is paying an interim dividend of 30 kobo per share.

The financial institution said the “dividend would be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at August 17, 2018 and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar to pay their dividend directly into their bank accounts.”