Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) is making plans to expand its market base beyond its present locations. To achieve this, the tier-1 lender is considering the East African region.
Although the country that GTBank intends to invest in is not known, the company is in search of more growth opportunities in the Eastern part of the continent. This will increase the bank’s base to 10 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking on the expansion plan of GTBank, the Chief Executive Officer, Segun Agbaje, said the management was still deliberating on the type of investment that would be done as well as weighing and discussing the acquisition.
[READ MORE: Agriculture a major threat to Nigeria’s AfCFTA drive -Stakeholders]
“We’ll start to look at other things, probably outside of what you are seeing us doing now, some of it might be to look at making acquisitions outside of Nigeria.
“In East Africa, we have to do one of two things: We either have to bring in capital or we have to think of acquisitions,” the CEO informed the lender’s investors.
In the Eastern region of Africa, GTBank already has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
The expansion move is coming on the back of a 3.7% increase in Profit After Tax which hit N99.1 billion in June 2019 as against N95.6 in June 2018. Its Earnings Per Share (EPS) grew to N3.50 in June 2019, up from N3.38 in the comparable period in June 2018.
[READ MORE: Ministerial inauguration: reactions trail the assignment of portfolios]
The company also declared an interim dividend of 30 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo for the period ended Sunday, June 30, 2019 (Half-Year).