Zenith Bank Plc reports record profit of N244.5 billion in 2021

Zenith Bank Plc's full-year audited financial statement for 2021 has been released, with a profit after tax of N244.5 billion, the biggest on record. This represents a 6.07 percent gain from the previous year.

The bank also announced a 6 percent increase in earnings per share to N7.79 from N7.34 a year ago. Since 2016, Zenith Bank has increased its earnings per share every year. After attaining N124 billion in profits in 2016, it took Zenith Bank nearly 6 years to double its profits.

Interest Income increased by 7.05 percent from N420.81 billion to N427.60 billion in the current period, according to the statement. Zenith Bank's profit gain is due to an exceptional all-margin increase, as interest and trading income all increased year over year.

Its net interest income from its lending division increased by 7% to N320.8 billion.

However, despite a 51.6 percent increase in loan losses, net interest after impairments remained unchanged at N260.8 billion.

Zenith Bank, on the other hand, made up for it with a 31 percent increase in commission and charge income to N103.9 billion year on year. It also earned N167.4 billion in net trading profits, up 37.6 percent from the previous year.

Zenith Bank's deposits increased by 21.2 percent to N6.4 trillion, bringing its total assets to N9.4 trillion. Net assets increased by 14.4% to N1.27 trillion.

As of Monday, February 28, 2021, Zenith Bank Plc was trading at N27.10 a share, with a market capitalization of N850.84 billion. The company's share price has increased 7.75 percent year to date.

The bank is proposing a N2.8 per share dividend, up from N2.7 per share a year earlier. Zenith Bank's dividend yield is almost 10% based on its current share price.

Zenith Bank Plc (ZENITH BANK) is currently trading at NGN 27.10. On the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), ZENITHBANK completed its latest trading day (Monday, February 28, 2022) at 27.10 NGN per share, up 0.6 percent from its previous closing price of 26.95 NGN. Zenith started the year with a share price of 25.15 NGN and has since gained 7.75 percent on that price, putting it in 52nd place on the NGX year-to-date.

Over the last three months, Zenith Bank has been the sixth most traded stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (Nov 29, 2021 - Feb 28, 2022). ZENITH BANK had transacted a total of 881 million shares worth NGN 22.6 billion in 18,554 transactions over the period, with an average of 14 million shares traded per session. For the same period, a volume high of 70.2 million was recorded on December 31st, and a low of 3.22 million was recorded on December 14th.