Ecobank to pay $40 million dividends to shareholders

The Pan-African banking group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is set to pay its shareholders dividends of $0.16 per share totaling $40 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

This implies approximately CFA90, N66.6, or 1.08 Ghana Cedi per share. For Nigerian and Ghanaian investors, this represents 5.5 times and 8.3 times, respectively, the most recent value of the Ecobank shares they hold.

According to the Company Secretary, Madibinet Cisse, “We are pleased to inform our shareholders and the public that the Board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (“ETI”), at its meeting of February 25, 2022, approved the Ecobank consolidated audited accounts for the year ended December 31, 2021 (“Audited Accounts”) subject to relevant regulatory approvals. The Board also recommended the payment of a dividend of USD0.16 cents per share being a total amount of circa USD40 million. The relevant resolutions will be presented for shareholders’ approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of ETI.”

He further stated that “The details of the audited accounts will be published upon approval of relevant regulators. Consequently, the closed period which commenced from January 1, 2022, will continue until 24 hours after the Audited Accounts for the year ended December 31, 2021, are released to the Stock Exchanges on which Ecobank Transnational Incorporated is listed.”

The dividend payout has triggered the share price in the various stock exchanges where ETI is listed. In Nigeria, ETI featured in this week’s selection for trading well below its real value, meaning it stands a good chance of considerable price appreciation in the future. The lender’s price-to-earnings (PE) ratio as of Friday was 2.54x, with earnings per share (EPS) of N4.32.