Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, acquired an additional 750,000 shares (N1.32 per share) of the Bank in accordance with the Nigerian Stock Exchange policy on insider dealing.
This was issued in a statement signed by the Company Secretary, Temitayo Adegoke released through the Nigerian Stock Exchange. According to the lender, the transaction took place on the Nigerian Stock Exchange floor, 1st, July 2020.
Earlier, Brand Spur reported Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director of the Bank, insider dealing of 18,457,500 shares at N1.24 per share from the company on July 16, 2020. This was alongside the disclosure made by the lender about insider dealings of 18,896,605 shares acquired by four of its Executive Directors between July 13 and 16, 2020.
The Managing Director has purchased a combined 19,207,500 shares, valued at N23,877,300.00, all in the month of July.
A peek at the company’s H1 2020 financials
The Bank’s results released on its website showed that the growth in balance sheet driven by an increase in cash balances with the CBN on account of a hike in CRR.
Overall, the Bank delivered a profit after tax of N5.41 billion in the first half of the year on gross earnings of N70.2 billion in the first half of 2020 compared with a PAT of N5.7 billion on gross earnings of N72.3 billion during the corresponding period of 2019.
Despite this, the lender achieved an 18.2% growth in low-cost funds which saw its CASA mix improve to 69% from 60%, delivering a 2.5% growth in customer deposits.
Speaking on the financial performance, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Sterling Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman said that:
“Our impressive half-year performance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic disruption belies the rough seas ahead. In the second quarter of the reporting period, we focused on empowering our stakeholders to respond to the unprecedented disruption occasioned by prolonged restriction to movement while supporting them to adapt to new ways of banking.”
Sterling Bank maintained a strong capital and liquidity position recording 15.6% and 33.5% respectively above the regulatory benchmark.
