Business Briefs
By
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
By Solomon Ibharuneafe
Zenith Bank Earns N62 Billion In Nine Months
Zenith Bank PLC has reported a gross earnings of N62.66 billion for the nine months ending March 31, 2007 up from the N42.12 billion recorded for the same period of the previous year, representing a 49 percent increase
The bank's unaudited results for the period submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Monday showed a remarkable improvement on all parameters with profit before tax jumping by 59 percent to N17.64 billion over the N11.08 billion recorded for the same period in 2006.
The results also showed that profit after tax rose by 69 percent, up from N8.86 billion recorded in the same period last year to N15 billion.
Zenith Bank, with a total market capitalisation of N377.9 billion, has always held an attraction for investors who have reaped a capital appreciation of almost 150 percent in just one year following recent rallies in the bank's stock on the floors of the NSE.
Since the public offer of early last year, the Zenith stock has risen gradually from N16.90, to close at N41.99 per share at the end of trading at the NSE on Tuesday, representing a total gain of N25.09 per share or 148.46 per cent. In total, this amounts to a capital appreciation of over N225 billion.
Apart from the capital appreciation, investors who bought into Zenith Bank have also reaped from the dividend payout as the bank made good on the promise made when it went public by paying N6.6 billion dividend or N1.10 per share, the highest dividend of any bank in the 2005/2006 financial year.
Zenith shares have been in high demand especially since January 17 when the bank announced its half year report that further confirmed its reputation for credible financial performance.
Analysts believe that the capital appreciation of almost 150 percent and the strong nine month results announced are indicative of what to expect when the full year result is announced at the close of the bank's financial year in June 2007.
"Investors have reaped significant capital gain from the investment and the dividend was highly encouraging despite the fact that its number of shares was increased through the IPO," one market analyst said yesterday. Many others said they were confident the bank would continue to deliver solid financial performances over the coming years especially with its customer focused approach to banking and investment in latest technology.
The Virgin Nigeria Bait
Frequent fliers of Virgin Nigeria airline are now to enjoy special incentives. The airline has concluded plans for them to benefit from ticket upgrades, access to its lounges, dedicated fast track check-in services and excess baggage allowance over their ticketed limit for class of travel. In addition, they would earn miles domestically and spend it internationally as members of the eagle flier club.
Yemi Osindero, chief operating officer of the airline said in a press statement recently, that the eagle flier members can also earn miles whenever they transact business with any of the partners by simply quoting their membership numbers or by presenting the used coupons and receipts from the eagle flier service centre for entry through partners.
The eagle flier is the registered trade mark of Virgin Nigeria, for her frequent fliers' programme launched in Lagos in November, 2006. The programme, according to Osindero, has gone into partnership with hotels, financial institutions, fashion and designer houses among others to offer exclusive rewards to loyal passengers. He said since the introduction in November 2006, more than 6000 customers have been registered with more applications being processed. He encouraged passengers to take advantage of the recently extended March to March promo and register with eagle flier in order to enjoy the benefits of registering previous miles earned.
Giving reasons for the extension, the chief operating officer said it was to accommodate the request of passengers that were yet to utilize the opportunity of the promotional period to credit their eagle flier account by claiming miles for travel as far back as March 2006. He said more promotional offers would be introduced in the months to further reward loyal members and encourage other passengers to join the club.
Virgin Nigeria is the registered fully-private sector flag carrier of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigerian institutional shareholders own 51 percent while Virgin Atlantic has 49 percent.
Arik Air's Score Card
Within six months of its existence, Arik Air, has recorded some landmark achievements. Some of the achievements include the building of the Garden City terminal in Port Harcourt, installation of a new Amadeus-based reservation system, Aero-pack, signing of agreement with Lufthansa Technik for a five-year maintenance contract, training of 10 pilots in Montreal, Canada and 16 students from l5 states of the Federation at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, at a cost of N16 million.
Others are the employment of nearly 500 staff in Nigeria, acquisition of new and modern aircraft including four CRJ 900, three CRJ 200, Boeing 737-300, and two Boeing 737-700, building of a super hanger and the expansion of routes to Calabar, Benin, Enugu and many others.
Mike McTighe, managing director of Arik Air said at a press conference recently that in just six months from commencement of operations Arik Air had established itself as the leader in the nation's aviation sector and the airline most ready to serve Nigerians when and where they need to fly. He restated the commitment of the airline to build a fleet that Nigerians and the rest of the world would be proud to fly.
McTighe said President Olusegun Obasanjo and the incoming president would be laying the foundation stone of the new Arik Air super hanger which, he said, would serve as a third party maintenance facility for all airlines in Nigeria. This, he said, would assist the airlines to deliver passengers to their destination in well-maintained safe aircraft.
The managing director said more than 150,000 passengers have flown with Arik Air since the airline started operations six months ago. "Though we have had many challenges, we are extremely proud of what we have achieved and our plans to grow the airline and its facilities," he said, stressing that very soon the airline would become the largest commercial airline carrier in Nigeria. He restated the airline's commitment to safety, service and route network that Nigerians both need and want. "Our new Boeing 737-700 aircraft will ensure that we can increase our capacity and frequency to Abuja and take on the much-needed central and West African routes. It is important to us at Arik to ensure that the African market is secured before making the transition into intercontinental routes, the United Kingdom and United States this year," he added.
Arik Air came on board last year after the demise of Nigeria Airways that threw more than 12,000 of its workforce into the labour market. By June this year, the new airline would be boasting of 16 new aircraft in its fleet which the airline said would make it the largest commercial airline carrier in Nigeria.
Arik Air was granted an airoperating certificate, AOC, by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, on October 16, 2006 and commenced operations on October 30, 2006. The airline plans to invest $130 million in new aircraft in the first half of 2007. Currently it is servicing six domestic routes with a promise to increase this to 11 by June?
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