GCB Bank has announced a dividend of 33 pesewas per share to its shareholders for the 2015 financial year bringing total dividend payout to GHC87.0m.
The amount represents a three per cent rise over the 2014 dividend per share of 32 pesewas.
GCB also recorded a total operating revenue of GH¢863million which is an increase of GH¢132 million above the GH¢731 million recorded in 2014. This represents 18 per cent increase over the year 2014.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, Mr. Daniel Owiredu, explained that the payment of the dividend was to “satisfy the expectations of shareholders even in a year in which the general economic environment was less supportive.”
Operating expenses in 2015 were kept under control at GHC426m as compared to GHC428m in 2014.
Shareholders approved the payment of the 33 pesewas per share at GCB’s 2015 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra after they had been presented with the financial statement.
The Bank declared a pre-tax profit of GH¢361million in 2015, an amount which is nine per cent less than what was achieved the previous year. Profit after tax was GH¢255 million, which was 10 per cent lower compared to that of 2014.
Mr. Owiredu said the Bank would continue to pursue its transformation agenda to become the top performing bank in Ghana through the modernization of the Bank’s branches, investment in its IT infrastructure as well as increase its market share.
These, he expatiated would enhance shareholder value and enable the Bank to offer better services to its customers.
On his part, the Acting Managing Director, Mr. Samuel Sarpong, said the Bank’s balance sheet size increased by nine per cent from GH¢4,259 million in 2014 to GH¢4,659 million at the end of 2015
That, he said, was as a result of the growth in customer deposits from GH¢3,075 million in 2014 to GH¢3,361 million in 2015.
In a post AGM interview, Mr. Sarpong said the Bank would soon open another branch in Weija. This comes after the recent opening of three branches in Haatso, Amasaman and Adjiringanor in the Greater Accra Region.
Some shareholders charged the Management of the Bank to evolve strategies that would enable the Bank lead in the industry and urged the Bank to go international.
Mr. Samuel Dadzie, a shareholder, commended the Management of the Bank for recovering some of the debts on its books and called for more to be done to recover all bad debts