Wema Bank grows shareholder’s funds to N15bn

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

Wema Bank Plc has recorded significant improvement in its financial performance, as its shareholders’ fund rose to N14.837 billion from a negative position of N44.62 billion in 2009.

Speaking at its Annual General Meeting in Lagos,capital base to Nfrom a negative capital of N66 billion to Managing Director of the bank, Mr Segun Oloketuyi disclosed that the improvement in its capital base, presents it with the opportunities to operate as a regional bank and also strengthen its operations.

He attributed the improvement in its capital to the actions of the Central Bank of Nigeria, through the formation of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, which has helped the bank in small measure in helping the bank achieve its recapitalisation objective.

He said, “I recall the gloom that pervaded the air when we held the combined annual general meeting to present the reports for the years ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009. The financial reports were anything but salutary.

“Shareholders’ fund were totally eroded and in fact, in a huge negative of N44.62 billion as at March 31, 2009.. Liquidity was not any better at a ratio of 28.2 per cent negative. I am happy to report to you that we had passed the dark days and your bank is back on its feet to take its rightful position in the banking space in Nigeria.

“Your bank is fully recapitalised with shareholders’ funds of N14.837 billion and capital adequacy ratio of 12.44 per cent, which are respectively above the regulatory minimum of N10 billion and 10 per cent for a commercial banking licence with regional scope.

Meanwhile, he corrected investors position on the sales of the bank’s subsidiary, saying that the sale of subsidiary is not a decision of the Bank, that the bank do not have a choice in the sale of its subsidiary, advising investors to be more focused on the value from the sale.

Also speaking, Chairman of the Bank, Chief Samuel Bolarinde noted that the bank was able to scale the hurdle of recapitalisation as a result of the sale of provisioned assets coupled with its capital raising efforts that yielded the sum of N7.5 billion in fresh capital and recovery of some of the delinquent loans portfolio.

Speaking on the bank’s business for the year under review, Bolarinde said ‘we have witnessed a significant boost to our bottom-line, it must be pointed out that a significant portion of this profit is accounted for by write-backs to the profit and loss account from recovered loans.

“Indeed our operational efficiency has been improving and the business should achieve operational profitability within the first half 2011” he said.

He welcomed new shareholders who took advantage of the special placement in September 2010 to buy into the bank, appreciating shareholders who stood by the bank during its trying period.

“I convey the board’s appreciation to you all and restate our commitment to continue to work towards building a bank that will be the pride of all stakeholders” he said.

However, its profit after tax rose by N16.24 billion, which was largely driven by write-backs to the profit and loss account, compared to N2.09 in the previous years.

The Banks gross earnings for the 12-month period of 2010 was N19.93 billion compared to a gross earnings of N16.27 billion for the 9-month period to December 2009.