By MICHAEL EBOH
GTBank Plc has announced a dividend of 75 kobo per share and a bonus of one ordinary share for every four ordinary shares held by its shareholders for its 2010 financial year.

The dividend, according to its audited results for the year end, December 31, 2010, was in spite of a 5.32 per cent decline in its gross earnings from N162.55 billion recorded in 2009 to N153.908 billion.

Its profit before tax, however, rose by 73.28 per cent to N48.455 billion from N27.963 billion recorded in 2009, while its profit after tax stood at N38.346 billion, rising by 61.89 per cent from N23.686 billion recorded in 2009.

Meanwhile, Access Bank Plc, driven by significant improvement in its top and bottom line figures in its 2010 financial performance, declared a dividend of 30 kobo per share.

According to the results released to the investing community, the bank’s gross earnings appreciated by 7.25 per cent to N91.14 billion from N84.98 billion recorded in 2009, its profit before tax stood at N16.168 billion, from a loss before tax of N3.481 billion in 2009, while it posted a profit after tax of N11.068 billion, compared to a loss after tax of N4.42 billion in 2009.

Speaking in Lagos, Tuesday, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Group Chief Executive of Access Bank, said, “The macro prudential initiatives instituted by the Central Bank of Nigeria to stimulate the Nigerian economy towards the path of sustainable growth and to ensure recovery of the Nigerian Banking sector have provided a launch pad for Banks with strong fundamentals to grow their business profitably.

“I am pleased to report that our 2010 performance places Access Bank amongst the leaders in the Nigerian banking industry and more importantly our focus on business sustainability will ensure the sustenance of our renewed growth trajectory.

Also speaking on the results, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, Group Deputy Managing Director said, “I am pleased that we almost doubled our gross earnings from Commercial Banking business in the financial year ended 2010.

This combined with successful efforts to recover provisioned assets ensured the segment returned to strong profitability.

“Our treasury business contributed strongly to bottom line profits, whilst our increased lending to top corporates clients by our Institutional Bank came at reduced margins.

“We see tremendous opportunities in our Retail Banking segment and have made significant various investments around personnel, risk management capacity, and product development all geared towards an aggressive retail expansion drive in 2011.”