BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The employees of Zenith Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading lenders have continued on a mopping spree of the bank’s shares.
The workers acquired about 4.13 billion ordinary shares of the bank valued at about N91.94 million in eight deals on November 22 on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
The vehicle through which the deals were executed was Zenith Bank Provident Fund.
The bank’s Company Secretary/Legal Counsel, Michael Out attested to the deals in a notice sent to the NGX Limited, notifying the former about the transactions.
Breakdown of the transactions showed that 4,134,126 units aggregate volume of the bank’s shares were purchased at average price of N22.4 per unit on the transaction day.
Earlier in November, the tier-1 lender disclosed a series of filings of insiders’ dealings by some of its executive directors and other members of staff in the name of Zenith Staff Provident Fund to the Nigerian Exchange between October 31 and November 8, 2022.
For instance, one such notice dated November 7, 2022, indicated that on November 4, an Executive Director of the bank, Anthony Akindele Ogunranti, purchased 1,000,000 units at N19.90 per unit.
Another Executive Director, Denis Olisa, on October 28, 2022, snapped up 645, 000 units of the shares at N20 per unit.
This was disclosed in a filing to the Exchange dated October 31, 2022, and signed by Michael Osilama Otu, the Company Secretary.
According to the notification filings, other transactions occurred in the name of Zenith Staff Provident Fund which is the equities investments vehicle for staff members.
In two such transactions, a total of 6,637,464 units were snapped up. The staff provident fund purchased an aggregate volume of 3,137, 464 units in five different deals on November 2, at an average per unit price of N19.85, the bank disclosed in a filing dated November 4.
Another filing dated November 2 showed that the same Staff Provident Fund purchased 3,500,000 units in three different transactions on October 31 at an average per unit price of N20.15.
All the transactions involving the bank’s staff members and directors occurred under the legal identifier “029200268F8M5Y151629”.
Commenting on the transactions, the doyen of the market, Rasheed Yussuf, said there was no foul play because the deals were sealed strictly in line with regulatory rules.
“All the transactions involving the bank’s staff members and directors occurred under the legal identifier ‘029200268F8M5Y151629’. Commenting on the transactions, the doyen of the market, Rasheed Yussuf, said there was no foul play because the deals were sealed strictly in line with regulatory rules”
Yussuf further explained that not only that the transactions followed the laid down rules and regulations, but there was also no evidence of anticipatory advantage by the insiders.
According to him, the fact that the Bank’s staff are mopping up the shares of their bank is an indication of the confidence in the capacity of the entity to deliver good returns.
In the year 2021, Zenith Bank paid a final dividend of N2.80 per share to shareholders after an interim dividend of 30 kobo per 50 kobo shares for the year 2022, indicating 18 percent earnings per share ratio.
Going by the Tier 1 lender’s record of sustained increase in dividend payout, analysts are forecasting a final dividend of at least N2.70 for this year.
While analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited have projected an average of 14 per cent dividend yield, the chief analyst at APT Securities and Funds Limited, Garba Kurfi, said the stock looks good to yield a minimum of 15 per cent in dividends and much more in capital appreciation.
“Equities investors looking to get good returns in the short term should pick Zenith Bank which has a tradition of sustained annual dividend yield of about N3 per 50 kobo share,” stock analyst disclosed.
Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc has over 500 branches and business offices in prime commercial centres in all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In March 2007, Zenith Bank was licensed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of the United Kingdom to establish Zenith Bank (UK) Limited as the United Kingdom subsidiary of Zenith Bank Plc.
Zenith Bank also has subsidiaries in: Ghana, Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited; Sierra Leone, Zenith Bank (Sierra Leone) Limited; Gambia, Zenith Bank (Gambia) Limited.
The bank also has a representative office in The People’s Republic of China. The Bank plans to take the Zenith brand to other African countries as well as the European and Asian markets.
Zenith Bank Plc blazed the trail in digital banking in Nigeria; scoring several firsts in the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to create innovative products that meet the needs of its teeming customers.
