Nigerian businessman Herbert Wigwe is set to pocket an interim dividend of N455.4 million ($1.1 million) from Nigeria’s largest lender by asset value Access Bank Plc.
The dividend will be paid from the bank’s N86.9-billion ($211.1 million) profits earned in the first half of 2021, as the leading lender continues to leverage diverse earnings streams and robust assets despite challenges in its operating environment.
Access Bank disclosed on Sept. 1 that its interest surged by 42.4 percent on the back of a 14-percent improvement in gross earnings from N396.8 billion ($964.0 million) in the first half of 2020 to N450.6 billion ($1.1 billion) at the end of the first half of 2021.
The strong financial performance, which sets Access Bank on course to post its highest-ever profit this year, led the board to propose an interim dividend payment of N10.7 billion ($25.9 million).
This translates to a payout of N0.30 ($0.00073) per share on all 35,545,225,622 ordinary shares issued by the bank.
The bank’s decision to increase its interim dividend payout from N0.25 in 2020 to N0.30 ($0.00073) per share shows its commitment to generating value for shareholders.
Wigwe, the group managing director and CEO of Access Bank, has an ownership stake of 1.5 billion shares and will earn a dividend of N455.4 million ($1.1 million) on Sept. 29.
The interim dividend payment will take his total direct earnings in 2021 to N1.6 billion ($3.9 million). Wigwe received a final dividend of N1.2 billion ($2.9 million) from the bank earlier this year.
