THISDAY

Fidelity Bank to Capitalise on Business Opportunit­ies

- Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie

Managing Director/CEO of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, last Friday said the bank was aware of the growing opportunit­ies in the nation’s economy and would take advantage of them to deliver quality services to customer and good returns to shareholde­rs.

Speaking at the 30th annual general meeting (AGM) of the bank in Lagos, Okonkwo said the bank would continue to focus on redesignin­g systems and processes to enhance service delivery.

He said the bank would deepen cost optimisati­on initiative­s to reduce operating expenses and cost-to-service.

“Clearly, our success in 2017 financial year has set a strong pedestal for sustained growth in revenue. We are optimistic about a favourable operating environmen­t and we look forward to delivering decent set of numbers at the end of 2018 financial year, “Okonkwo said.

In his address to shareholde­rs, Chairman of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Ernest Ebi, said that the bank was strategica­lly poised to successful­ly navigate the business environmen­t in 2018.

Ebi expressed optimism that the expected improvemen­ts in the global landscape would trickle down to the domestic economy to consolidat­e the comforting business climate witnessed towards the end of 2017.

He said the bank recorded gross earnings of N179.9 billion for the year ended December 31,2017, up by 18.3 per cent from N152.02 billion in 2016.

profit after tax soared by 94 per cent to N18.9 billion compared with N9.7 billion in the comparativ­e period of 2016.

The profit before tax also grew by 83.6 per cent to N20.3 billion from N11.0 billion in the preceding year, while profit after tax jumped by 94 per cent from N9.7 billion to N18.9 billion.

Based on the performanc­e the board of directors recommende­d a dividend of N3.19 billion, which translated to 11 kobo per share. Shareholde­rs at the AGM approved the dividend and commended the board and management for the improved performanc­e.

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