Billionaire investor Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), will get paid a combined dividend of N1.68 billion following the bank’s interim payout of 25 kobo per share for the first half of 2025.
While his direct stake brings in about N375.4 million, the bulk of his earnings will come from his indirect holdings, which add another N1.3 billion.
Together, the sum cements Elumelu’s position as one of Nigeria’s most consistent dividend earners, even in a year when UBA has trimmed its interim payout compared to the record N2.00 per share declared during the same period in 2024.
The windfall comes from his extensive shareholding in the pan-African lender made up of 1.5 billion direct shares and an additional 5.2 billion held indirectly through investment vehicles.
Elumelu’s Indirect Holdings in UBA
- HH Capital Limited – 1,184,447,676 shares
- Heirs Holdings Limited – 2,115,222,826 shares
- Heirs Alliance Limited – 258,972,915 shares
- STH Limited – 1,336,225,622 shares
- Eternal Properties – 324,885,419 shares
Total Indirect Holdings: 5,219,754,458 shares
The dividend announcement comes as UBA reported a pre-tax profit of N388.4 billion for the first six months of 2025, a modest decline from the N401.5 billion posted in the same period last year. Despite the dip, the results highlight the bank’s robust income streams, particularly from interest-related businesses, even as cost pressures mount.
Interest income rose 32.9% year-on-year to N1.3 trillion, up from N1 trillion in the first half of 2024. Treasury bills contributed the largest share at N366.4 billion, followed closely by corporate term loans at N319 billion. Bonds under investment securities added N279.2 billion, while cash and bank balances generated N113.2 billion. Loans and advances to banks accounted for another N105.6 billion.
UBA’s balance sheet remained strong, with total assets climbing to N33.2 trillion, up from N30.3 trillion in December 2024. Retained earnings rose nearly 13 percent to N1.6 trillion, showing the bank’s ability to preserve capital even amid volatility.
Backstory
For Elumelu, this latest dividend is part of a broader pattern of hefty earnings from UBA. In 2024, the billionaire investor received an estimated N12.71 billion in dividends, according to an analysis by Nairametrics.
That payout stemmed from his combined direct and indirect holdings of 2.54 billion shares, spread across three entities: HH Capital Limited, Heirs Holdings Limited, and Heirs Alliance Limited.
In 2022, Elumelu earned about N2.66 billion as dividends from his UBA holdings, following the bank’s declaration of a N1.10 per share payout. In 2022, with a total dividend of N1.00 per share, his earnings came to roughly N2.38 billion. These back-to-back windfalls have cemented his reputation as one of Nigeria’s top dividend earners.
UBA’s dividend policy has fluctuated in recent years. The bank declared a total payout of N5.00 per share for the 2024 financial year, a major jump from 2023’s N2.80. The move boosted its payout ratio to 22.31%, up from 15.76% a year earlier.
