Lagos-based financial services holding company Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has declared a 50-percent decline in profit for the first half of its 2021 fiscal year, which ended on June 30.
The holding revealed that its mid-year profit in 2021 slumped by 50 percent to N22.5 billion ($54.7 million), compared with the N44 billion ($106.9 million) in profit that it posted in the first half of 2020.
Stanbic stated that the company’s profit reduction in 2021 was driven majorly by an 84-percent decline in trading revenue due to a fall in its income from currencies and fixed-income securities.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings is a Nigeria-based financial services holding with subsidiaries in banking, stock brokerage, investment advisory, asset management, ventures, investor services, pension management, trustees and life insurance.
The company operates as a member of Standard Bank Group, a financial services giant based in South Africa. Stanbic IBTC is led by Demola Sogunle.
Sogunle was appointed CEO on July 1, 2020.
Aside from the decline in the holding’s trading revenue, which pressured earnings downward in the first half of 2021, the 50-percent drop in profit was supported by a 20-percent decline in net interest income coupled with a 34-percent reduction in non-interest income.
This pressured the company’s gross earnings downward from N126.6 billion ($307.6 million) in the first half of 2020 to N93.6 billion ($227.4 million) in the period under review.
As of press time, 8:00 AM (UTC), Sept. 7, shares in Stanbic IBTC Holdings on the Nigerian Exchange were worth N39.2 ($0.095), 138-basis points lower than its opening price yesterday, Sept. 6.
Despite the company’s weak performance in the first half of 2021, the board recommended an interim dividend of N13 billion ($31.6 million), which translates to a cash distribution of N1 ($0.00243) per share to shareholders.
This is 150-percent higher than the interim dividend of N0.40 ($0.000972) per share, which it paid to shareholders in the first half of 2020.
Sogunle is expected to pocket an interim dividend of N2.1 million ($5,102) from his stake in the company.
