Jim Ovia, Zenith Bank Chairman, Earns N1.5 Billion From Interim Dividends in Second-half of 2022

Jim Ovia, Zenith Bank Chairman, Earns N1.5 Billion From Interim Dividends in Second-half of 2022 

*Chairman, Jim Ovia will go home with a mouth-watering sum of N1.5 billion dividends from his shares in the bank *Ovia owns 3.55 billion units of direct shares in the bank and indirect share units of 1.55 billion shares 

*He will receive the dividends after it has been ratified by the shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting of the bank.

  

The founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, cashed out big time from his 5.08 billion share units in the bank. 

Reports say that Zenith Bank released its half-year financial report with 30 kobo interim dividends, from which Ovia earned a massive sum. 

According to a breakdown, Ovia owns 3.55 billion units of direct shares and indirect share units of 1.55 billion, giving him a controlling right of 116.16 per cent of the company. 

Reports say the top Nigerian banker will go home with N1.52 billion as dividends from the bank's 30 kobo per share declaration. 

He will receive the dividends after ratification by shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting of the company. Dividend payments are subject to a withholding tax rate of 10 per cent in the hands of shareholders.

According to the bank, it will start electronic payment of dividends to shareholders by September 13th to those whose names appear on the register of members. The bank posted a profit of N111 billion for the first six months of 2022, a 5 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2021. The bank's income grew by 18.5 per cent to close at N242 billion in the first half of 2022, while its earnings per share jumped from N3.38 billion in the first half of 2021 to N3.55 billion in six months. 

It was reported that in 2020, during the COVID-19 season, while low and middle-income earners were struggling to keep their jobs, Chief Executive Officers of top Nigerian banks were raking in millions of naira. Operations of the banking industry were hit by the pandemic, forcing the lenders to adopt cost-saving measures as they shrank their operations, but this had little or no impact on the earnings of the industry's CEOs. 

Findings  showed that out of the top five most valued Nigerian banks, Guaranty Trust Bank (now GTCO), Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Access Bank and United Bank of Africa, only one CEO recorded a dip in his earnings.