Companies
These banks gave AMCON N168 billion in 2019
Nigerian Banks increased their contributions towards the AMCON sinking Fund to about N167 billion in 2019 compared to about N154,9 billion a year earlier.
Nigerian Banks increased their contributions towards the AMCON sinking Fund to about N167 billion in 2019 compared to about N154,9 billion a year earlier. This is according to data compiled by Nairametics Research.
All banks operating in Nigeria contribute 0.5% of their total assets as at the dates of their audited financial statements as levies to the Banking Sector Resolution Cost Trust Fund (BSRCTF), also known as the AMCON Sinking Fund, to repay AMCON’s debt to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the data banks in our universe of data that we track have contributed a combined N455.9 billion in the last 3 years alone. Financial services conglomerate, FBNH has contributed the most with about N107.4 billion in the last 3 years. Zenith Bank is next with about N82.7 billion.
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Nigerian Banks’ contribution to AMCON Sinking Fund.
Source: Nairametrics Research.
What it means: The AMCON’s sinking fund was established following the realization that recoveries from AMCON-acquired bad loans might be insufficient to meet the cost of restoring financial stability. The fund is to further ensure that the burden on the national treasury is reduced, as any banking crisis will be resolved by banks, CBN and AMCON.
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Meanwhile, the increase in levies is in tandem with the growth of the banks’ total assets. For instance, the total annual assets of banks in the last five years were N27.37 trillion in 2015, N32.02 trillion in 2016, N35.77 trillion in 2017, N41.04 trillion in 2018 and N47.27 trillion in 2019, based on data compiled by Nairametrics Research.
While some industry watchers believe that AMCON’s existence will be longer than expected, considering the crisis that rocked the industry from inception, some shareholders told Nairametrics that such tenure elongation is not a welcome development for them.
National President, Constance Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria, Shehu Mikail, explained that the contributions made by the banks are huge and if care is not taken, it could deplete banks profit and returns on investments (ROI).
He said, “The contributions being made by banks into the sinking fund is to the detriment of their shareholders. The act that established AMCON needs to be reviewed and the agency should give details of its services to the nation.
“We do believe that all other regulatory agencies are up to the task of enforcing the necessary rules to sustain the financial sector but this is not, as it causes more injury to shareholders in terms of dividend payment.”
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Another shareholder, Taiwo Oderinde alleged that AMCON was designed to suppress investment in Nigeria, as all shareholders’ investments in the collapsed banks have gone down the drain. He said,
“Banks must have paid about N1trillion to AMCON in the last 10 years of its existence despite the fact that some financial institutions were nationalized without giving their shareholders anything. It was an emergency toxic vehicle established by the government through the CBN and stakeholders then to save the situation at hand, but it has overstayed its welcome.
“The only way forward is for AMCON to start winding down its operations because it has spent 10 years; it can use 2020 for rounding off. We call on the legislators to look into the tenure extension. The government needs to evaluate the performance of AMCON since inception, noting that the impact of the corporation is not felt.”
Companies
COVID-19, VAT, FX scarcity adversely impacted our operations in 2020 – Nigerian Breweries boss says
NB Plc’s operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase and FX devaluation.
The management of Nigeria’s leading brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc has revealed that its operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase, FX devaluation and scarcity of foreign exchange.
This statement was made by the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, at the company’s pre-AGM media briefing for the financial year-end 2020, which held in Lagos this week.
He noted that the increase in the brewer’s cost in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the company’s operations, as well as the increase in VAT, devaluation and FX scarcity which has put pressure on input cost.
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The Nigerian Breweries boss explained further that the increase in cost could not be fully attributed to currency devaluation and foreign exchange scarcity.
He explained that the increase in costs of goods sold, as reported in its audited financial results, could also be linked to the increase in the volume of goods sold, as the company’s sales volume in 2020 increased by almost the same percentage as the cost of goods sold.
To deal with this challenge going forward, he revealed that the company is focused on the supply chain, and will continue to seek out ways to mitigate any of the price increases coming from FX scarcity.
READ: Brewery sector: A quarter to forget
The company’s profitability in question?
An analysis of the company’s result revealed that despite the 4.3% increase in net revenue from N323.00 billion recorded in 2019, to a total of N337.01 billion in 2020, the company’s profit declined significantly by 53.3% to N7.53 billion.
Speaking on this, Jordi Borrut in his statement at the press briefing noted that the brewer’s business performance in 2020 was quite impressive especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. Despite these challenges, the company maintained a strong and healthy balance sheet.
“There was a slight reduction in profitability but compared to the previous year, the business witnessed an improved growth in revenue. The significance of this is that the business became more stable and healthier,” he said.
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What you should know
- Nigerian breweries, being the largest brewer in the country, maintained its stance in terms of generating profits year-on-year. The company emerged as the only brewer to record a profit of N7.37 billion from its operations in 2020, 54.3% lower than 2019 figures (N16.1 billion).
- From this, the leading brewer was able to pay shareholders a total dividend of N7.5 billion, translating to a dividend of 94 kobos per share – a dividend payout in which exceeds 100%.
- While Guinness and International Breweries made a loss of N12.6 billion and N24.9 billion respectively, this reality impacted their ability to pay their shareholders dividends in 2020.
Business News
Highest paid Nigerian bank MD/CEOs of 2020
Bank MD/CEOs in Nigeria earned a combined N1.5 billion in salaries in 2020.
The banking sector, especially commercial banks, is one of the most profitable sectors of the Nigerian Economy churning out profits of close to a trillion in 2020 alone. They are also one of the highest employers of labours in the country employing over 93,000 Nigerians.
Sitting at the helm of affairs is the Chief Executive/Managing Director, the highest-ranking executive in the organization saddled with the responsibility of making the best corporate decisions, oversight of the execution of the organisation’s corporate strategies and most importantly increasing the shareholders’ return. The buck basically stops on their table.
Thus, these enormous responsibilities also come with a considerable executive compensation for their service making them ostensibly the highest-ranking staff of the bank.
READ: Jim Ovia: From a clerk to founder of Nigeria’s most profitable bank
In typical Nairametrics fashion, we bring to you a list of the highest-ranking bank CEOs for 2020 based on their executive compensation (exec comps). The bank MD/CEOs under our review earned over N1.5 billion in salaries in 2020.
The data was sourced from the published audited accounts of the bank and verified by Nairametrics Research.
