Amanano Rural Bank Plc is celebrating its gains after posting an unprecedented profit before tax margin of over 199% at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
The bank recorded over 13 million cedis in profits in the year under review as against the 2023 figure of 4.4 million cedis, translating into approximately 8.7 million cedis of the gains.
This comes after the bank saw a significant increase in its deposits for the year, growing from over 99.4 million cedis in 2023 to 193.25 million cedis for 2024.
Management of the bank says it is ready to pay dividends of 40 pesewas per share following the historic gains, attributing the achievement to the dedicated efforts of its staff and shareholders in promoting the operations of the bank.
In 2023, Ghana’s banking sector showed resilience amid macroeconomic challenges compelling financial institutions to adopt strategic measures to rebound.
The Amanano Rural Bank Plc, in diversifying its efforts in 2024, is seeing significant improvement in its financial performance, achieving a positive Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) after surpassing its deposit mobilization, profit and size of assets.
Total Deposits
Closing the year with over 193 million cedis in deposits, the bank achieved a massive growth of 94.24% in deposit mobilization as it intensified its financial inclusion drive.
Board Chairperson, Oheneyere Mrs. Augustine Asare Osei, noted that management is enhancing strategies to make the bank’s financial services more accessible.
“We are hopeful that the initiatives that have been set in motion will help drive this key balance-sheet item to more impressive levels in the coming years. The board will continue to work closely with management to review and offer the best products, services and delivery channels to customers. Innovation, speed, and convenience are key attributes of these discussions as they would ensure greater performance,” she noted.
Total Assets and Investment
The bank closed the year with a total asset of 226.97 million cedis compared to the 2023 figure of 106.37 million cedis. This represents a 113.48% increase in asset growth.
The bank attributes the massive increase to the gigantic increase in deposits and the current performance year to date.
Management is confident of witnessing a similar trend by the close of 2025.
Similarly, the bank’s investments increased from 4.47 million cedis in 2023 to 110.79 million cedis in 2024, representing an increase of 150.3% over the period, included in the investment are locked-up funds of over 11.9 million cedis.
“Management and board are still awaiting the move by the government to release these locked-up funds as promised,” Mrs. Asare Osei said.
Stated Capital and Shareholders Fund
Despite attaining a stated capital of 2.3 million cedis at the close of 2024, the bank is yearning for more capital injections due to the country’s economic challenges.
In 2023, the stated capital of the bank stood at 1.98 cedis, translating to a growth of 19.43%.
The number of shares issued also increased from 10.04 million cedis in 2023 to 11.33 million cedis in the year under review.
The bank’s shareholders’ fund also reversed to a positive figure of 8.73 million cedis compared with 1.23 million cedis.
This astronomical increase resulted in the bank’s unprecedented profits.
Profitability
The bank made an unprecedented Profit before tax of 13,193,069 cedis against 4,410,221 cedis in 2023.
Profits after tax stood at 9,588,346 cedis for the year as against 2023’s 2,700,193 cedis.
“We will continue to work assiduously towards increasing the bank’s profitability to increase shareholder’s worth (i.e. return on equity-ROE). Our aim is to sustain an inflation-beating ROE,” Mrs. Asare Osei noted.
Dividend payment
Pending the Bank of Ghana’s approval, a 40 pesewas per share is expected to be paid on 11,330,756 ordinary shares which qualifies for dividends as per closure of register of September 2024.
The proposed dividend will give a return on dividend of 13.33% on the current share price of 30 pesewas.