By Chinwendu Obienyi
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc is set to pay N3.10 per share to its shareholders for the 2022 financial year.
This is coming after the group released its Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE).
According to its result, the group noted that during the 2022 financial year, Directors declared and paid an interim dividend of 30 kobo per ordinary share on the share capital of 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, for the half-year period ended June 30, 2022.
The Directors recommend the payment of a final dividend of N2.80 (Two naira and Eighty Kobo only) per ordinary share of 50 kobo (bringing the total dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2022 to N3.10.
The Group reported a net interest income of N30 billion for the year 2022 as against N220.61 billion posted in 2021 representing a growth of 17.54 per cent. The Group’s gross earnings increased by 20.42 per cent from N447.81 billion in 2021 to N539.23 billion.
However, the group reported profit before tax (PBT) of N214.2 billion, representing 3.3 per cent dip from N221.5 billion posted in the corresponding year ended December 2021 on the back of N35.6 billion impairment recognized on Ghanaian sovereign securities.
The Group’s loan book (net) increased by 4.6 per cent from N1.80 trillion as at December 2021 to N1.89trillion in December 2022, while deposit liabilities grew by 11.6 per cent from N4.13 trillion to N4.61 trillion during the same period.
Commenting on the results, the Group Chief Executive Officer, GTCO Plc, Segun Agbaje, said that the group’s ability to successfully navigate the peculiar challenges in the different markets where we operate underscores our strong business fundamentals and unwavering commitment to sound business strategies.
“Despite the varying challenges and headwinds that weighed on growth in 2022, we were determined to deliver a decent performance and scale effectively to strengthen our competitive edge and drive long-term growth.
As an organisation, 2022 was quite significant for us being the first year after our corporate restructuring into a financial holding company in August 2021. Today, across our Banking,
Payment, Funds Management, and Pension businesses, we have successfully built a robust ecosystem with immense potential to deepen our addressable market and create more value for all our stakeholders”, he said.
He thereafter said that the group will continue to prioritise innovation, service excellence, and execute seamlessly towards achieving its vision of leading financial services in Africa.
The Group’s balance sheet remains well-structured and resilient with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at N6.45 trillion and N931.1billion, respectively. Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) remained very strong, closing at 24.1 per cent.
Similarly, asset quality was sustained as IFRS 9 Stage 3 Loans ratio (NPLs) improved to 5.2 per cent in December 2022 from 6.0 per cent in December 2021, however, Cost of Risk (COR) inched up marginally to 0.6 per cent in FY-2022 from 0.5 per cent in December 2021 due to impact of worsened macros on PDs.