Oceanic Bank surpasses 2007 performance targets

There indications that the financial performance of Oceanic Bank International plc has surpassed its management projection for the year.
Sources disclosed that the bank’s profitability level for the 2007 financial year would be best in the industry. It would be recalled that the bank closed 2006 financial year as the third most profitable financial institution in the country.

Meanwhile, the bank’s chief executive, Cecilia Ibru, has assured its shareholders that the bank will adequately compensate them for their perseverance and trust with good returns on their investments. The bank is currently the most capitalised in the country, with a shareholders funds of N213 billion. The bank had projected a dividend payout of N33.8 billion to the investors for the next three years. The dividend payout excludes other returns that are accruable to the bank’s investors, like the expected capital appreciation and bonus issue.

Capital market analysts have however projected that the share price of the bank tohit N45 before the end of the financial year. The bank, it would be recalled gave the investors a surprise bonus issue of one for four last financial year as well as a dividend bonus of 42 kobo a share. The bank’s dividend policy has been one of the most attractive in the industry in the past five years. The quantum of its annual dividend payout has grown by an impressive 1477 percent since 2001, which implies that investors in the bank have the prospect of seeing their investment yielding three times the value of their initial investment annually.

In a chat with financial correspondents recently, the bank chief said: "We are very determined to make our shareholders happy. We will leave by our promise of delivering excellent service to our customers, make good money and give bountiful in terms of returns." Aside the superb earnings and profitability performance of the bank, the value of its stock on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has also continued to do very well and now sells over N30 per share on the floor, huge capital gains for the investors

An Inter-temporal analysis of Oceanic Bank’s performance shows the consistency, which guaranteed the bank’s present position as the Best bank in Nigeria. Between 2002 and 2006, the bank’s asset base has grown by a whopping 643 per cent, while its deposit base grew by 594 per cent. Its loan portfolio however recorded a more impressive growth rate of 833 per cent within the review period, testifying to the fact that Oceanic Bank is a "Real Sector Friendly Bank". From these efforts, the bank has been able to consistently improve on its earnings generation capacity, rising by 479 per cent between 2002 and 2006.

Ibru attributed the bank’s ability to consistently sustain its remarkable performance on all financial indices to the bank’s solid management, continuous quest for innovations and human capital development all geared towards value-added customer service delivery. All these, she said was achievable through rigorous training and refresher courses organized for the staff and more importantly to the strict adherence of all the Management and staff to the bank’s core values, tagged: TEAMS, an acronym of Transparency, Equal Opportunity, Accountability, Merit and Service Excellence.