Directors of Zenith Bank Plc on Friday presented its audited financials for the half-year ended June 30, 2021 showing marginal declines in key parameters, resulting in subdued growth in profit before and after-tax.

Gross earnings for the period slipped by 0.15% from N346.088bn in the corresponding period of 2020 to N345.559bn; with interest income which accounted for N203.934bn dropped 6% from N216.954bn; while non-interest income improved by 8.83% to N126.768bn from N116.486bn. Interest expense dropped by 26.12% from N59.545bn to N43.994bn; leaving profit before tax at N117.059bn, up by a slight 2.57% from N114.124bn. Profit after tax stood at N106.119bn from N103.826bn, a difference of 2.21%; translating to earnings per share of N0.57, from which the directors have proposed an interim dividend of N3.38 for the half-year period, up from the previous N3.30 each.

Details later…