By Dipo Olowookere
The management of Diamond Bank Plc has refuted media reports that some investors were on the verge on injecting fresh funds into the company in a bid to recapitalise the financial institution and make it yield better returns.
This week, Business Post and some other media platforms reported that some investors were already in talks with the tier-2 lender in order to reposition the bank, which has been losing its fortunes lately.
This led to the immediate resignation of four of its directors, including the Chairman, Mr Oluseyi Bickersteth.
It was gathered that these four key members of the board of Diamond Bank were asked to leave to allow representatives of the new investors on the board.
Diamond Bank, which later confirmed the resignation of Mr Bickersteth, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, Mrs Juliet Anammah and Mrs Aisha Oyebode, explained that the directors left the board “with immediate effect” based on “varied personal reasons, which will include focusing on their priorities.”
Yesterday in a statement, the financial institution said, “Our attention has been drawn to recent media reports concerning new equity investment in Diamond Bank Plc.
“Such reports have speculated on the identity of a new investor, with permutations on the structure of the investment.
“We wish to notify the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the general public that these reports are far from the truth.
“Diamond Bank is not in talks with any party, global or otherwise, for any capital injection.
“While previous communication from the bank has highlighted a need to shore up the bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), the preferred option is an internal capital management programme that has been explained in detail to analysts and investors.
“While we recognize the need to expand our options in the short term, we have no concrete new development to report and will notify the Exchange once there is any,” the lender said in the statement.
Also on Friday, Diamond Bank released its financial accounts for the first nine months of this year.
A brief analysis of the earnings by Business Post showed that the profit before tax dipped to N3.1 billion from N4.8 billion, while the profit after tax went down to N1.7 billion from N3.9 billion.
Also, the gross earnings for the period under consideration dropped to N142.5 billion from N143.7 billion, with the interest and similar income going down to N108 billion from N112.5 billion a year ago, while the net interest income depreciated to N67.1 billion from N77.7 billion.
In addition, the net interest income after impairment charge for credit losses closed at N41.9 billion against N44.5 billion in Q3 2017, while the net fee and commission income declined to N22 billion from N22.3 billion.
Business Post reports that the earnings per share (EPS) of Diamond Bank decreased to 7 kobo from 17 kobo.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale