Nigerian tycoon Herbert Wigwe to pocket $700,000 in interim dividends from Access Holdings

Herbert Wigwe, a Nigerian multimillionaire banker and the group managing director of Access Holdings, stands to earn up to N303.6 million ($700,000) in interim dividends from his stake in the leading financial services group with pan-African operations.

The news comes nearly four months after the leading banker and multimillionaire businessman received N1.06 billion ($2.56 million) in dividends from his stake in the financial services group following its fiscal year-end profit of N160.2 billion ($385.6 million) in 2021.

The $700,000 in interim dividends that Wigwe is set to receive from his stake in Access Holdings will be paid from the group’s retained earnings of N401.5 billion ($937.4 million), thereby bringing his dividend earnings from the leading lender this year to $3.26 million.

Access Holdings is Nigeria’s largest financial services group in terms of assets, as well as one of the most capitalized financial institutions on the Nigerian Exchange.

Wigwe, a Nigerian multimillionaire business executive who was instrumental in the growth and expansion of the pan-African banking group, owns a significant 4.27-percent stake in the company, or 1,517,850,729 ordinary shares.

Access Holdings now has operations in over ten African countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Gambia, and Mozambique. It also has operations in the UK, China, India, Lebanon, and the UAE.

Profits increased by 2.2 percent to N88.74 billion ($207.2 million) in the first six months of 2022, up from N86.8 billion ($202.6 million) in the same period last year.

Its strong financial performance in the face of rising economic uncertainty and rising operating costs prompted the group’s board of directors to declare its first-ever interim dividend of N0.2 ($0.000466) per share, which will be paid to shareholders on Oct. 12.

As a result of the group’s strong financial performance, assets increased from N11.73 trillion ($27.4 billion) at the start of 2022 to N13.2 trillion ($30.8 million) as of June 30, 2022, while retained earnings increased from N397.2 billion ($927 million) to N401.5 billion ($937.4 million).