- bags GH¢11.69 million profit
- pays GH¢0.050p as dividend
By Seth KRAMPAH, Antoakrom
Amansie Rural Bank PLC, at Antoakrom in the Amansie West District of Ashanti Region, has recorded impressive growth in all indicators in the 2023 year under review.
The Bank posted a pre-tax profit of approximately GH¢ 11.7 million in the 2023 period under review as against a little over GH¢6.1million in the previous year, representing a remarkable growth of 90.54%.
The rise in profit is attributed to improved revenues generated from operations and prudent management of recurrent expenditures both on the part of the Board, Management and the entire Staff.
In view of this impressive results, the Directors have recommended the payment of total dividend of GH¢ GH¢1,845,944.40; representing GH¢0.050p dividend per share with a total qualifying share of 36,918,888 as at December 31, 2023.
The Directors of the Bank have obtained exceptional approval from the Bank of Ghana to pay dividends to the shareholders for the financial year of 2023. Amansie Rural Bank PLC is among the few Banks approved by the BoG pay dividends due to the hard work of the Board, Management and Staff.
It is also partly due to shareholders’ sacrifices, patience and support offered during the past years to enable the Board and Management to use retained profits from 2022 to develop the Bank for future gains.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors Ben Kwaakye Adeefe Esq. announced these and more at the Bank’s 39th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Friday in Antoakrom.
Operating Environment
According to him, the global economic activity improved in the first half of the year, reflecting strong household consumption amid tighter labour markets, especially in advanced economies.
However, global activities slowed down in the second half of the year on the back of weak manufacturing and services sectors.
On Ghana’s economy, data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) estimated real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2023 at 2.9%, relative to 3.8% in 2022.
The slowdown in growth was attributed to contraction in industry; even though agricultural and services sectors registered growth to GDP.
Headline inflation sharply decelerated to 23.2% in December, 2023 from 54.1% in December 2022. The decline in inflation was driven by easing food and non-food prices. The disinflation process was supported by tight monetary policy, relative exchange rate stability, and effective liquidity sterilization efforts.
The Ghana Cedi cumulatively depreciated by 27.8% against the US dollar compared to 29.9% in 2022. Except sharp depreciation of 20.6% in January-2023, the Ghana cedi cumulatively depreciated by 7.2% between February and December-2023.
In spite of these difficulties that had to be surmounted, the Bank redefined its operational strategies considering its strength, weaknesses and the external threats and opportunities to mitigate the far-reaching effect, and managed to pull yet another remarkable operational performance in almost all the financial indicators in 2023 as indicated in the table.
Operational Results of the Bank in 2023 & 2022
| PERFORMANCE INDICATOR | 2023
GH¢ |
2022
GH¢ |
%
CHANGE |
| DEPOSITS | 332,993,874.38 | 232,541,632.89 | 43.20 |
| LOANS/ADVANCES | 92,183,697.96 | 92,422,627.20 | (0.26) |
| INVESTMENTS | 214,455,087.00 | 135,689,499.99 | 58.05 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 382,938,207.13 | 265,196,470.61 | 44.40 |
| PROFIT BEFORE TAX | 11,695,885.02 | 6,138,426.22 | 90.54 |
| SHARE CAPITAL | 4,494,581.67 | 4,246,469.42 | 5.84 |
| SHAREHOLDERS FUNDS | 30,606,701.00 | 23,489,588.39 | 30.30 |
Share Capital
The Bank’s Stated Capital saw a moderate increase from GH¢4,246,469.21 at the end of December, 2022 to GH¢4,494,581.67 as at the end of December, 2023. The increase of 5.84% was as a result of the sale of Ordinary Shares of 992,449 at GH¢0.25 per share, amounting to GH¢248,112.25.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors urged shareholders to invest more in the shares of the Bank, so that they could generate more profits and guarantee improved returns on their investments in terms of dividends and capital gains.
Cocoa Purchases & Fund Transfers
The Bank paid a total Cocoa Fund Transfers amounting to GH¢143,161,484.57 in the year 2023. There was an increase of 29% when compared with the amount of fund transfers in 2022 to the tune of GH¢110,755,586.96 paid for Cocoa Transfers. The surge in Cocoa Fund Transfers was attributed to the use of the Bank instead of cash conveyed by some financial institutions to the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs).
Corporate Social Responsibility
The Bank increased its spending by 72% on its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in 2023 over 2022 figure. A total amount of GH¢419,125.00 was spent in 2023 as compared to GH¢243,225.60 in 2022. The significant portion of the CSR went into Education, Community Pavilion and Security sectors to serve the best interest of the inhabitants in the catchment areas of the Bank’s operation.
Amansie Bank’s Scholarship Scheme
The Board Chairman announced the re-introduction of the AMANSIE Bank’s Scholarship Scheme in the year 2025 as it was suspended in 2017.
The Scholarship Scheme according to the Chairman will assist selected number of brilliant but needy students in the public Senior High School for their entry requirement support; and public tertiary education with respect to their tuition fees on regular fee basis.
To ensure fair and transparent administration of the Scholarship Scheme, the Board has developed a robust guiding policy for implementation by a 5-Member Committee; and also subject to both internal and external auditing, just to ensure judicious use of the Bank’s financial resources.
Electronic Banking
The Bank has collaborated with the Apex Bank PLC to roll out GHANA PAY successfully in 2023. This service was added to the GH Linked ATM Cards and E-ZWICH Cards issuance to the Bank’s customers.
The Board is therefore entreating all shareholders, especially those who are also customers, to register with the Bank to be linked with these electronic platforms to enjoy modern technology in banking without stress; whilst at the same time, deepening the financial intermediation and cash-lite agenda of the Government of Ghana.
Future Outlook
The CEO of the Bank, Frederick Kwakye Kyei Esq in an interview with Business & Financial Times said Management would continue to seek ways of strengthening and developing the Banks’ operations to maintain the confidence that customers and shareholders have in the Bank.
The Bank’s business model according to the CEO is still tailored for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and would push for more market penetration as they develop new and innovative products and trusted relationships with clients of the bank.
According to him, the Bank will continue to see its strength in the area of managing the credit needs of the small and medium enterprises as well as continuing to improve upon the support the bank offers to this sector of the economy.
Regulatory Advice
The Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank PLC, Alex Kwasi Awuah, commended the Board, management and staff of Amansie Rural Bank for the sterling and impressive operational performance for the year 2023 under review.
He urged the shareholders of the bank to have confidence in the board and support them to continue to deliver as expected and so that they would always have significant returns on their investment.
He assured shareholders that if the board and management would continue to exhibit this diligence and be legally compliant as required of them, then he could assure shareholders that the objective that the board had set for themselves as becoming the number one rural bank in Ghana in the next five years would be achieved.
Mr Awuah reminded shareholders that, rural banking in Ghana now has assumed a very high standard lately particularly with the introduction of an efficient digital platform and urged management to advise all customers to sign on to enjoy convenient banking.
