4th Aug 2008 13:42
News Release
DIAMOND BANK POSTS IMPRESSIVE RESULTS FOR 2008
…… declares N12.8bn PAT: 118k earnings per share
Diamond Bank Plc has declared Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N16.2 billion for its financial year ended April 30, 2008. This represents a growth of 112 percent over N7.6 billion recorded in 2007.
The PBT was achieved from gross earnings of N60.4 billion, an increase of 52 percent over N39.9 billion earned in the previous year. The Profit After Tax (PAT) for the year grew by 122 percent to N12.8 billion as against N5.8 billion achieved in 2007. The PAT resulted in earnings per share of 118k for the year compared to 74k in 2007.
On the strength of the Bank's performance, the Board of Directors is recommending N7.4 billion to be paid as dividend to shareholders. This translates into 56 kobo per 50 kobo share. In addition, the Board is recommending the capitalization of N657.8 billion from the general reserve account for bonus issue, in the proportion of one new Ordinary Share for every ten Ordinary Shares currently held.
These achievements are indications that the Bank has made significant strategic progress with the implementation of its growth agenda post-consolidation. Details of the audited results for the year under review also indicate significant improvements in other performance indices. The deposit base achieved a 93 percent growth, moving from N217.7 billion in 2007 to N419.7 billion in 2008 while balance sheet size rose to N840.3 billion, a growth of 87 percent over the figure of last year.
According to the Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Emeka Onwuka: "The Bank's commitment to running a responsive and responsible business anchored upon our heritage of values and high performance has provided a firm foundation for success - making 2007/2008 a record financial year for Diamond Bank Plc. The year saw us building on our strong reputation for customer focus, ethical principles, innovative product development and quality service. These principles have continued to steer our growth on an impressive and sustainable path".
He added: "Leveraging on these principles and our focused development of our delivery infrastructure, systems and technology, we have gained momentum and scale in all our markets. Consequently, we generated attractive returns to our shareholders, while our strong balance sheet, large customer base and solid risk management framework have helped us to build a robust institution capable of guaranteeing quality growth".
Diamond Bank has entered into a strategic partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank that availed the Bank a $20 million facility, dedicated specifically to support the growth of African Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (AMSME) lending in the country. The Corporation also seconded a Resident Expert who has garnered extensive international experience in MSME funding to work with the Bank for two years to drive the development of products, operational and risk management frameworks for the Bank's MSME business.
It will be recalled that Diamond Bank recently made investments in promising financial services sub-sectors - insurance, mortgage and pension funds - to improve the growth, earning mix and profitability of its business. Conscious of the fact that these businesses are outside our core competence areas, the Bank is working with very competent and experienced firms to speedily position the subsidiaries for market penetration. ADIC Insurance, for instance, entered into a strategic alliance with a leading South African insurer, Hollard Insurance, toward the launch of a veritable bancassurance model in Nigeria. The strategic equity partnership with Actis is also very helpful in this direction as the latter introduced some experts to work with Diamond Mortgages. Working with such experts had been very helpful in entrenching Diamond PFC (Pension Fund Custodian) in the evolving pension funds market.
The decision has started yielding significant results as the contribution of the Bank's subsidiaries - Diamond Bank Benin S.A., Diamond Securities Limited, ADIC Insurance Group, Diamond Pension Fund Custodian and Diamond Mortgages - to the Group's Non-interest Income grew to 12.3 percent compared to 2.7 percent in the previous period. The subsidiaries' contribution to PBT also grew to 7.1 percent from 2.4 percent. The strong and improving performance of the subsidiaries is an indication of the potential earnings diversification effect of venturing into the promising specialised financial services.
Diamond Bank recorded some landmark achievement during the year under review. As a testament to the Bank's rising profile in the Energy Finance in the country, the Bank's transaction with Lonestar Drilling Company won the Trade Finance Magazine's "Deal of the Year" award during the Magazine's awards held recently in London. Trade Finance Magazine, is an affiliate of Euromoney.
Early this year, the Bank also won the "Most Improved Bank" Award at the prestigious ThisDay Annual Awards. The award is a confirmation of our improved performance driven by result-oriented and forward looking strategies, innovation in product offering and excellent quality of customer service delivery. This recognition has strengthened our resolve to accomplish even more and we will leverage on the achievement to continuously deliver superior financial performance to all stakeholders.
Similarly, the Bank's subsidiary in the Republic of Benin - Diamond Bank Benin S.A. - emerged the Best Bank in Benin 2007 after a keenly contested award during an International Exhibition of Banks, Insurance and Financial Services held in that country. This is a clear testimony to the giant strides the subsidiary has made in that Francophone country within the short time we have operated there. Towards boosting business activities in the UEMOA zone, the Bank is expanding into Togo, Senegal and Cote d'ivoire before end-2008.
Diamond Bank's international profile was raised during the year with the successful conclusion of an offering of US$500 Million Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and the subsequent listing on the Professional Securities Market (PSM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5776A_1-2008-8-4.pdf
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