Zenith Bank Plc has proposed an interim dividend of N1.25 per share for its shareholders following an impressive record of N532.18 billion profit after tax in the first half of 2025.
The dividend, subject to shareholder approval at the next Annual General Meeting, shows an improvement of 25 kobo over N1.00 declared in June 2024, following its resilient performance in the first half of the year ending June 30, 2025
Key Financial Highlights:
Gross earnings increased by 20 per cent to N2.52 trillion, driven by strong growth in interest income, which rose to N1.84 trillion from N1.15 trillion in the prior year. Net interest income after impairment losses reached ₦593.91 billion.
The bank’s total assets grew to ₦30.99 trillion (Group) and ₦23.85 trillion (Bank), while customer deposits increased to ₦23.48 trillion and ₦17.90 trillion, respectively.
Regulatory Forbearance Exit:
A major development during the period was the bank’s decision to fully exit loans granted under CBN regulatory forbearance following a June 14, 2025, circular that directed banks to suspend dividend payments until such exit was completed.
Adaora Umeoji, Group Managing Director, noted that “Zenith Bank took a bold move to fully exit the loans granted under the CBN regulatory forbearance,” demonstrating the bank’s commitment to regulatory compliance.
The bank recorded significant impairment charges of N760.81 billion (Group) and N756.15 billion (Bank) on financial and non-financial instruments, reflecting the cleaning up of its loan book as part of the regulatory forbearance exit.
Outstanding contractual amounts of assets written off during the period totalled ₦1.18 trillion, compared to ₦94.4 billion in December 2024.
Despite the impairment charges, Zenith Bank maintained strong capital adequacy ratios of 26 per cent (Group) and 24 per cent (Bank), well above the regulatory minimum of 15 per cent plus one per cent as a systemically important bank. Total regulatory capital stood at ₦4.27 trillion for the group and ₦2.81 trillion for the bank.
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