The Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe has described the bank’s customer-centric strategy as a key driver for the success of its ongoing Rights Issue and Public Offer, collectively termed the combined offer.
Onyeali-Ikpe stated this at a recent town hall meeting in Lagos, whilst emphasizing the importance of engaging directly with existing shareholders and would-be investors to ensure clarity and support for the bank’s financial initiatives.
According to her, the bank customers are the reason behind the bank’s functionality, hence the reason for recent engagement with its existing shareholders while welcoming new investors to the Fidelity bank family.
Onyeali-Ikpe expressed enthusiasm over the initial reception in the first week of the launch, noting widespread anticipation and positive feedback from stakeholders.
“Several analysts have described our Combined Offer as the most anticipated offer of the year. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) also is very happy with us about the retail perspective we have brought into the sale,” she stated.
She added that the town hall meeting was going on concurrently across the country to ensure that no one is left out; both big and small investors°
Onyeali-Ikpe highlighted the bank’s impressive financial performance, citing a 26 per cent return on investment and a 39 per cent gross earnings in the previous year. She underscored the bank’s robust growth in share price, which according to her, outpaced both the NGX All-Share Index and the Nigerian Banking Index.
“Our offering is attractively priced at N9.25 for the rights issue and N9.75 for the public offer making this offer highly appealing to both existing shareholders and new investors.
“With a current market price of N10.20, we are confident that our share price will exceed N14.00 per share by year-end, driven by strong financial fundamentals. We are confident that this offer will be oversubscribed and we have started to approach the regulators to say that this is a different kind of scenario, so that they will have to allow us to take in everything that customers subscribed to.”
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director, Lagos and Southwest, Fidelity Bank, Ken Opara emphasized the bank’s commitment to delivering value. “Within the last five years, our share price has appreciated by over 500 per cent. We have a track record of consistent and improved dividend payout for over 18 years.”
Opara further highlighted Fidelity Bank’s commitment to robust corporate governance and strict adherence to regulatory compliance, ensuring stability and trust among stakeholders.
Fidelity Bank aims to raise N127.1 billion through the offer, comprising 10 billion units for the public offer and 3.2 billion units for the Rights issue. The offer, which opened on June 20th is set to close on July 29th.