- declares GH¢0.06p dividend per share
The Amenfiman Rural Bank Limited at Wasa Akropong in the Wasa Amenfi East Municipality in the Western Region has posted yet another impressive operational performance in the 2021 year under review.
The bank recorded a profit before tax of approximately GH¢10.1million in the 2021 reviewed year as against GH¢11.5million in the previous year, representing a marginal dip of 12.5%.
The dip in profit was as a result of additional impairment provisioning booked to cover difficulties in the recovery of the bank’s lending to cocoa farmers due to climate challenges they experienced during the reviewed year.
The board has, therefore announced a proposal for a dividend payment of six pesewas (GH¢0.06p) per share, representing a 30 percent return on shareholders’ investments for the year 2021. In all, 34,775,719 ordinary shares qualify for dividend as at the closure of register on September 30, 2021 and this amounts to GH¢2,086,543.14.
The bank closed the year 2021 with total assets of GH¢477.4million compared to GH¢424million recorded in 2020, representing year-on-year growth of 12.6 percent, driven mainly by 43.9 percent increase in loans and advances to support agriculture and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sectors of the economy. Amenfiman Rural Bank still maintained its leadership as the largest rural bank in Ghana in terms of total assets.
Loans and advances component of the bank’s asset portfolio witnessed a significant growth from GH¢107.8million to GH¢155.2million, recording a positive variance of GH¢47.4million which showed the bank’s readiness to deliver credit to expand the operations of micro economic units such as farmers and traders.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Toni Aubynn, announced these and more at the 38th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Saturday at the Assembly Hall of Amenfiman Senior High School at Wasa Akropong.
Operational environment
According to him, the developments in the global economy had a knock-on effect on the Ghanaian economy. Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 5.4 percent in 2021, compared to 0.5 percent in 2020. The upturn in growth resulted from information and communication, real estate, transport and storage, and a rebound in import trade, cocoa, hotels and restaurant sectors of the economy.
However, the banking sector remained sound and well-capitalised with strong growth in total assets and deposits throughout the year 2021 despite the effects of the challenges posed by COVID-19.
In spite of the national and local macro-economic challenges due to the pandemic, the bank managed to pull yet another remarkable operational performance in almost all the financial indicators in 2021 as indicated in the table.
Stated capital
The stated capital of the bank stood at GH¢6.7million, significantly above the regulatory requirement of GH¢1million. This is an indication that Amenfiman Rural Bank is sufficiently capitalised for the banking business. The board and management remain relentless in their quest to continuously deliver value to its shareholders.
Corporate social responsibility
The bank continues to initiate and support projects under its corporate social responsibility programmes with the aim of giving back to society. For the year 2021, a total of GH¢1,143,130 was spent on social programmes for local communities with the education sector receiving a significant portion of 78 percent of the total value spent under CSR. This is largely due to the bank’s commitment toward improving the education opportunities and facilities for people within the communities and the establishment of the flagship Amenfi State University College.
Future outlook
The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr. Alex Asmah, in an interview with B&FT, said the bank would continue to invest in technology and in the people in order to ensure that they have the right talent at all times to support the achievement of the bank’s goals, improve effectiveness and efficiency of operations and deliver superior value to their stakeholders.
He further assured the bank’s esteem shareholders that they would always remain focused on realising their ambition of dominating the market to consolidate their leadership in rural banking.
While he acknowledges the local and national economic challenges resulting from the raging Russia/Ukraine War and COVID-19 pandemic, the Board and Management of the bank will always remain confident in their ability to continue to rise to the occasion, and achieve an even stronger competitive position in 2022 and beyond.
| Financial Indicator | 2021
GH¢ |
2020
GH¢ |
Variance
GH¢ |
% Change |
| Operating Income | 78,285,710.38 | 62,284,233.00 | 16,001,477.38 | 25.72% |
| Profit Before Taxation | 10,111,863.00 | 11,518,730.00 | -1,406,867.00 | -12.21% |
| Investments | 246,777,773.00 | 249,503,349.00 | -2,725,576.00 | -1.09% |
| Cash & Bank Balances | 52,314,658.00 | 47,955,842.00 | 4,358,816.00 | 8.97% |
| Advances | 155,299,646.00 | 107,879,884.00 | 47,419,762.00 | 43.97% |
| Total Assets | 477,458,767.00 | 424,083,653.00 | 53,375,114.00 | 12.57% |
| Total Deposits | 401,799,301.91 | 363,614,268.00 | 38,185,033.91 | 10.47% |
| Shareholders’ Funds | 46,921,955.00 | 38,860,728.00 | 8,061,227.00 | 20.61% |
