Access Bank To Pay N10.7bn Interim Dividend For H1 2021

Access Bank's Board of Directors have earmarked a total sum of N10.7 billion as dividends to shareholders for the period ended June 30, 2021.

This was seen in a recent disclosure released on the website of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). According to the notice, the lender proposed to pay out a dividend of 3kobo for each of the outstanding 35,545,225,622 ordinary shares of the company, held by its shareholders, amounting to N10,663,567,686.6.

It is worthy of note that the proposed interim dividend of 30kobo per share is about 20 percent higher than the amount proposed in the corresponding period of last year (HY 2020: 25 kobo). This increase might be attributed to a much improved financial performance reported by the bank during the just concluded half-year period.

Access bank recently released its 2021 half-year results, where it posted a 42.4 percent increase in its Profit After Tax (PAT). Net interest income after impairment also surged by 56 percent to N171.4 billion, customers deposit grew to N5.97 trillion within the period, while its earnings per share (EPS) grew to N2.48 from N1.73 recorded in the corresponding period of last year.

The Tier-1 bank revealed that the interim dividends will be paid electronically on September 29, 2021 to qualified shareholders, whose names appear on the Register of Members as of Thursday, September 16, 2021. To qualify, shareholders must have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar (United Securities Limited) to pay the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their Bank accounts.

The bank also announced that the Register of its Shareholders will be closed on Friday, September 17, 2021.