Zenith Bank’s profit set to soar past N1 trillion in 2024, Adaora Umeoji says

 

Zenith Bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr Adaora Umeoji, has predict that the bank will exceed N1tn in profit by the end of 2024, solidifying its performance.

Umeoji, said this at the bank’s recently held Capital Markets Day to showcase the bank’s inherent values as it embarks on its recapitalisation journey in Lagos.

She also revealed that the bank was planning to expand its operations to France and other Francophone African countries, set up a fintech subsidiary and raise about N230bn in the ongoing recapitalisation.

According to its 2023 annual report, Zenith Bank’s tier-1 capital stood at N1.8tn, shareholders’ funds at N2.3tn and market capitalisation stood at N1.3tn.

Also, the bank’s profit before tax was N796bn as profit after tax tripled by 202 per cent to N676.9bn from N223.9bn.

Shareholders were rewarded with a dividend of N4 per share at the end of the year.

Umeoji said, given the trend of the bank’s performance and having achieved a profit before tax of N796bn in 2023 and N320bn in the first quarter of 2024, the bank was on track to deliver over N1tn in profit before tax in 2024.

She also expressed confidence that, with the quality of the board and management and a strong corporate culture, the bank was well-positioned to deliver superior value to investors and other stakeholders and navigate the recapitalisation process successfully.

“For us at Zenith, we won’t be left out. We are planning to go to the market to raise capital, and as it stands, Zenith Bank has the least amount of capital to raise. We are looking to raise N230bn because we are already at N270.7bn. That is the least capital to raise among our peers.

“We believe that Zenith Bank has what it takes. We have the capacity, the network, the balance sheet, the human capital, and the track record to achieve that. We are planning for the future, and the technology we have now is the best in the entire industry. It will help us to have a seamless process and integrate,” she stated.

Umeoji revealed that the bank was keen on driving financial inclusion, expanding corporate and retail banking through technology and other state-of-the-art digital platforms, and establishing a fintech subsidiary, ZenPay, to drive profitability.

Also, the bank’s Chief Financial Officer/General Manager, Dr Mukhtar Adam, remarked that in the last five years, Zenith Banks’ compound annual growth rate in revenue had grown by over 27 per cent.

“This continues to grow year-on-year. Within this period, at some point, Nigeria went into recession, but we forged ahead, worked very hard, and continued to deliver growth. Within the last five years, our profit before tax has also grown cumulatively by about 28 per cent. This is a market where, at some point, government instruments—treasury bills—were paying one per cent, two per cent, three per cent. But we forged ahead to grow the numbers and provide stable returns of at least 28 per cent,” Adam said.