Nigeria’s business tycoon and Chairman of Zenith Plc, Jim Ovia, is expected to earn a pre-tax income of N15.22 billion from its equity investment in the bank for the financial year 2020.
He is set to earn N3.00 per share on his direct and indirect investments in Zenith Bank Plc, where he holds a direct stake of 3,546,199,395 units, and an indirect stake of 1,525,904,916 units.
The bank’s audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, obtained by BizWatch Nigeria on Wednesday stated that the board of directors approved an interim dividend of N0.30 per share from its earnings and proposed a final dividend of N2.7 per share.
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“The Board of Directors, pursuant to the powers vested in it by the provisions of Section 426 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of Nigeria, CAMA 2020, paid an interim dividend of N0.30 per share and propose a final dividend of N2.70 per share (December 31, 2019: interim; N0.30, final; N2.50) from the retained earnings account as at December 31, 2020,” the report said.
At the 30th Annual General Meeting of the Bank on Tuesday, the shareholders unanimously approved the proposed final dividend of N2.70 per share, making a total dividend of N3.0 per share.
This brings the total dividend payment for the 2020 financial year to N3.00 per share with a total value of N94.19 billion for 31.396 billion shares.
The 69-year-old business tycoon will receive N1.52 billion from the interim dividend of N0.3 per share and N13.69 billion from the final dividend of N2.7 per share.
The other executive directors and non-executive directors will share a pre-tax dividend of N78.97 billion.
According to the audited financial report, the bank’s profit before tax (PBT) rose by 5 percent to N255.9 billion from N243.3 billion reported in the previous year despite a challenging macro-economic environment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jim Ovia, who is one of Nigeria’s most prominent businessmen, and the largest shareholder in Zenith Bank, one of the largest and most profitable commercial banks in Nigeria.
Apart from his shareholding in Zenith Bank, Ovia is one of Nigeria’s largest property owners and also has interests in telecoms.
In 2015 he featured in Forbes’ ranking of Africa’s 50 Richest with a fortune that was estimated at $550 million at the time but dropped off in 2016.
