Access Bank restructures to holding company in coming days
Africa’s financial services conglomerate, Access Bank Plc will in the next couple of days complete the delisting of its entire 35,545,225,622 issued and fully paid-up ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each as part of the processes leading to the restructuring to a non-operating financial holding company.
Recall that on March 10, 2022, the lender announced to shareholders that there has been a court sanction of the scheme of Arrangement between the Bank and the holders of its fully paid-up ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, (the scheme), leading to the establishment of Access Holdings Plc as a non-operating holding company and the listed parent entity of the Bank and related Group companies).
The bank, through a corporate action announcement signed by the company secretary, Sunday Ekwhochi and posted on the Nigeria Exchange Group website on March 18, explained that “Sequel to the announcement and in line with the terms of the scheme, applications have been made to the Nigeria Exchange Group limited for the delisting of the entire 35,545,225,622 issued and fully paid-up ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of Access Bank plc and the listing of 35,545,225,622 issued and fully paid-up ordinary shares of Access Holdings Plc.
“Indicatively, it is expected that the two processes will be completed within the next couple of days leaving Access Holdings plc as the listed entity on the Nigeria Exchange Group Limited and the sole beneficial shareholder of access bank plc which will be entitled to final dividend herein declared.”
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Also, recall that following the release of its full-year financial result for the year ended December 2021, and ahead of its annual general meeting scheduled for March 28, Access Bank Plc has proposed a dividend of 70 Kobo for every share of 50 Kobo.
This is, however, subject to appropriate withholding tax to be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on the 19th of April 2022. This brings the total dividend by the lender for the 2021 financial year to N1.00.
The lender said the register of shareholders would be closed on the 20th of April 2022.
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The dividend will be paid electronically on April 28, 2022, to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as of the 19th day of April 2022 and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar to pay their dividends directly to their bank accounts.
Shareholders who are yet to complete the e-dividend registration have been advised to download the Registrar’s E-Dividend Mandate Activation Form, complete and submit it to either the Registrar, their respective Banks or any Access Bank branch.
Meanwhile, shareholders with dividend warrants and share certificates that have remained unclaimed, or are yet to be presented for payment or returned for validation have been advised to complete the e-dividend registration or contact the registration, while the date of AGM is fixed for March 28, 2022.
Access Bank Plc, last week declared a profit of N160 billion in its 2021 Full-year financial result – a 51.13% increase year on year.
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Its earnings per share of N4.58, was a 52.16% growth from the N3.01 reported a year earlier in 2020.
The lender’s net interest income grew by 14.64% from N262.95 billion to N301.46 billion within the period under review.
Other major highlights of the results include the growth in income from commission and fees, which rose by 36.40% to N159.18 billion year on year. This is even as it generated a total of N166.10 billion in trading income on securities representing, representing an impressive 423.35% increase year on year.
Deposits from customers also rose significantly by 24.47% to N6.95 trillion, with its e-banking income rising 18% to N66.28 billion, from N56.09 billion in 2020.
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The lender’s aggressive expansion to other African countries over the past two years has benefited its balance sheet, where total assets now stand at a whooping of N11.73 trillion, more than double its total assets just three years prior. Net assets now stand at N1.03 trillion, a 38.03% increase.
You may recall that at the end of 2012, Access Bank was successfully operating in 10 countries outside of Nigeria, including Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Gambia, Ghana, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, UK, and China.
In the past six years, the Bank has opened more physical branches and became fully operational in fourteen countries as it added UAE, India, Lebanon, Cameroon, and Kenya. This strategic expansion follows the launch of the ‘Africa’s Gateway to the World’ campaign in 2018, an initiative, which the lender believes would promote ‘access to finance’ in Africa and globally.