FBN Holdings Plc had their Anual General Meeting yesterday during which the company’s Managing Director, Urum Kalu Eke, stressed the company’s commitment to recover all non-performing loans which he said has adversely affected the company over the years.
While responding to the complaints of some shareholders about the company’s high impairment charge, Eke reassured them that the issue would soon be resolved once the strategies adopted to recover the loans begin to yield a result.
He further stated that him and his leadership team have been committed to recovering bad loans; even as a special committee and an asset management unit was established for that very purpose.
Already, the company’s strategy is beginning to yield a result, as their non-performing loan index decreased by 22.8% in 2017. The company had reduced their impairment to ₦150.4 billion in 2017, down from ₦226 billion in 2016.
Even though we have not recorded a full resolution of our NPL, we have made significant progress in dealing with a number of these names and more fundamentally, ensured a strong asset quality from recent credits. As a result, NPL for the period declined from 24.4 percent in 2016 to 22.8 percent in 2017.-Urum Kalu Eke
Also speaking at the AGM was the company’s Chairman, Oba Otudeko, who stated that the company’s subsidiary, First Bank Nigeria Limited, continued to maintain a leadership position in the market in 2017.
The bank recently became the first financial institution in Nigeria and across West Africa to issue up to 10 million cards. It also recently became the first in Nigeria to achieve an electronic transaction volume of about 100 million in just a month.
Otudeko said the company can only continue to make progress, delivering strong returns to the shareholders.
Meanwhile, speaking of returns to the shareholders, a final payment of ₦8.974 billion was approved for the payment of dividend for the financial year ended December 2017. This will translate to about 25kobo per share.
As we reported, the company recorded ₦595 billion as gross earnings, with a profit after of ₦47.7 billion for the period ended December 2017. These figures represent 2.4% and 178% increases year on year; respectively.
Incorporated in 2010, FBN Holding is the non-operating holding company for the First Bank Group. The company became a publicly-traded company in 2012, and its shares were traded at ₦11.50 as at yesterday’s trading session.