Economy
Access Bank to Pay HY Dividend as Earnings Hit N450.6bn
By Dipo Olowookere
Access Bank Plc is paying its shareholders an interim dividend of 30 kobo for the first half of 2021 ended June 30, a notice from the lender has confirmed.
However, the HY dividend is subject to appropriate withholding tax and would be paid on Wednesday, September 29 to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as at the close of business on Thursday, September 16 and to those who have completed their e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts.
A look into the performance of the banking institution in HY 2021 showed that its gross earnings expanded to N450.6 billion from N396.8 billion in the same period of 2020.
Business Post observed that the corporate and investment banking arm of the business raked N167.9 billion versus N152.0 billion a year ago, the commercial banking earned N139.4 billion compared with N112.1 billion, the business banking generated N24.8 billion in contrast to N36.9 billion, while the retail segment added N118.6 billion versus N95.8 billion to the total revenue.
In terms of the geographical segments, the largest chunk of the earnings came from its Nigerian operations, raking N353.8 billion, higher than N338.6 billion in the same period of last year.
The lender said in the first six months of this year, its net interest income grew to N200.1 billion from N126.2 billion, while its net interest income after impairment charges rose to N171.4 billion from N109.7 billion.
In the period under consideration, Access Bank said it improved its fee and commission income to N73.7 billion from N51.8 billion as a result of a rise in channels and other e-business income, commission on other financial services, commission on bills and letters of credit, account maintenance charge and handling commission as well as credit-related fees and commissions.
However, its fee and commission expense rose in the same period to N15.0 billion from N11.2 billion, while the net fee and commission income closed at N58.7 billion, higher than N40.6 billion in HY 2020.
In the first half of the year, Access Bank said personnel costs swallowed N43.6 billion compared with N36.3 billion in the same period of 2020 mainly as a result of an increase in wages and salaries to N41.3 billion from N34.1 billion, while other operating expenses jumped to N126.1 billion from N120.7 billion despite a decline in bank charges, administrative expenses, communication expenses, outsourcing costs, advertisements and marketing expenses, recruitment and training, events, charities and sponsorship, security expenses, cash processing and management cost, and office provisions and entertainment costs.
When these costs and others were taken from the earnings, the bank was left with a profit before tax of N97.5 billion, higher than N74.3 billion as at June 30, 2020, while the profit after tax stood at N86.9 billion compared with N61.0 billion, signifying a 42.5 per cent improvement.
In the period, the earnings per share (EPS) grew to N2.48 from N1.73, while the total assets increased year-to-date to N10.1 trillion from N8.7 trillion in FY 2020, with the total liabilities rising year-to-date to N9.3 trillion from N7.9 trillion.
It was observed that deposits from customers in the first months of this year went up to N6.0 trillion from N5.6 trillion as at December 31, 2020, while loans to customers increased to N3.6 trillion from N3.2 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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