BoI Declares N612m Dividend for 2014
Yemi Akinsuyi in Abuja
The Bank of Industry (BoI) has declared a dividend of N612 million for the year ended 31st December, 2014.
This is even as the bank stated that it has created over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs from the N127 billion loans disbursed to Medium and Small scale Enterprises within the year under review.
A statement from the development financial institution also said, the dividend payment approved by its shareholders at an annual general meeting (AGM) held in Abuja, represents 10 per cent of the bank’s profit after tax of N6.12 billion for the year ended 31st December, 2014.
The bank’s major shareholders are the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). According to the bank, there are 42 other private corporate and individual shareholders.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Board of Directors, BoI, Alh Abdulsamad Rabiu,has stated that despite the harsh economic situation in the country, the bank was still able to achieve loans and advances of N544.3 billion in 2014.
The loans and advances of N544.3 billion, he noted, represents a nine per cent growth when compared to the 2013 figure of N498.2 billion.
He said: “In the year under review, our bank disbursed loans worth about N127 billion to enterprises, while over 500,000 jobs were created directly and indirectly through our business activities. The group achieved loans and advances of N544.3 billion in 2014 compared to N498.2 billion in 2013, which represents a growth of nine per cent despite a challenging operating environment,” he said.
He noted that the group’s capital and reserves grew by 5.9 per cent from N153.7 billion in 2013 to N162.2 billion in 2014.
In the same vein, he said profit for the year improved significantly from N2.18 billion in 2013 to N5.19 billion, representing a growth of 137 per cent.
The chairman added that the growth profitability was an indication that shareholder value was being enhanced owing to its achievement of its developmental mandate.
Speaking on the future outlook for the bank, Rabiu said BoI would continue to monitor developments in the operating environment in order to ensure that pro-active steps are taken to achieve its corporate objectives.
“Our new strategy blueprint provides a framework within which we shall operate by providing strategic focus in addressing the ever changing needs of our customers.
“We are also in the process of re-engineering our processes in a bid to leverage automation opportunities to achieve operational efficiency,” he stated.