Zenith Bank Plc ( African Bank of the year) begins the marketing of its N130 billion hybrid offer today in the Nigerian capital market.The offer which is a combination of rights issue and public offer, is the first time a company in Nigeria is targeting to raise as much as N130 billion at ago in the market. The hybrid offer is made up of rights issue of 1,654,59 units each at N36.90 per share and public offer of 1,763,300,00 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N38.90 per shar
Zenith shares have proved to be a wise decision for investors since the bank was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2004. Investors in the stock have had impressive returns in the form of capital appreciation, dividends and bonus. The bank rose progressively from N10.90 per share in 2004 when it was listed to N66.14 per share at the end of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on June 30, 2007, representing a total gain of over N55.24 or over 600 per cent per share within 36 months. Shortly after its 2006 public offer, Zenith stocks rose from N16.90 to cross the N60 mark, making it the highest priced banking stock in the market. This represented a total gain of N49.24 per share or 291.36 per cent. Apart from the capital appreciation, investors have also reaped from the dividend payouts as the bank delivered on its promise by paying out as much as N20 billion since the IPO in 2004. Shareholders received N4.2 billion or 70 kobo per share in 2004/2005; N6.6 billion or N1.10 per share in 2005/2006 and N9.2 billion or N1.00 per share in the 2006/2007 financial year. The dividend payout in the 2006/2007 financial year was in addition to the one bonus share for every four shares held by investors. Before trading was frozen, as required by capital market law, Zenith stocks were trading for N46.09, indicating that the current shares on offer are at a discount of N10 per share. The bank’s first quarter results released recently on the heels of the full year result confirmed Zenith’s position as a high performer with commendable improvement in all parameters. Details of the first quarter results showed that the bank also recorded a profit before tax of N10.33 billion, up from N6.41 billion last year while profit after tax amounted to N8.06 billion, showing an increase of 70 per cent over N4.73 billion recorded for the corresponding period last year. The operating results of the bank in the last five years indicate an impressive performance on all parameters.
Total assets plus contingents grew by 730.06 per cent from N153.44 billion as at the end of June 2003 to N1.271 trillion in June 2007. Within the same period, gross earnings increased from N17.8 billion to N94.9 billion, representing a 433.14 per cent growth while profit before tax also grew by 372.42 per cent from N5.44 billion to N25.7 billion. Profit after tax for same period rose by 327.27 per cent from N4.42 billion to N18.8 billion. Also impressive were the remarkable growth in shareholders funds from N12.651 billion to N114.6 billion, indicating an increase of 823.81 per cent and total deposit from N61.5 billion to N634.5 billion representing a 931.54 per cent jump. The bank has also retained its strong performance on the quality of its assets, beating its own record of 1.5 per cent of non-performing loans with a new figure of 1.1 per cent as against the industry average of 18 per cent.
In an effort to continuously spread its brand globally, Zenith Bank in April 2007 opened its wholly owned United Kingdom (UK) subsidiary, Zenith Bank UK following a rigorous approval process by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. The FSA gave Zenith Bank the nod to open for business having been impressed by the strength of the bank’s application. The bank already has a subsidiary in Accra, Ghana which opened for business in November 2005 and a representative office in Johannesburg , South Africa. Zenith was recently recognised by the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), for the stock’s performance this year with the award of ‘Quoted Company of the Year’. This came shortly after the bank won ‘African Banker of the Year’ Award from the African Investor magazine and the ‘Most Corporate Socially Responsible Bank in Africa’ from the African Banker magazine.