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Nigerian gambling magnate Kessington Adebutu is set to collect N14.84 billion ($10.5 million) in gross dividends from Wema Bank Plc after the lender posted record profit before tax of N222.07 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025 and declared a dividend of N1.25 per share, its most generous payout since the bank's founding eight decades ago.
Adebutu, the founder and chairman of Premier Lotto Limited, Nigeria's oldest and largest gaming company, holds 11,872,844,847 ordinary shares in Wema Bank through his investment vehicle Neemtree Limited. At N1.25 per share, his gross dividend comes to N14.841 billion. After applying the standard 10% withholding tax on dividends, his net take-home will be approximately N13.36 billion, equivalent to roughly $8.35 million at current exchange rates.
The payout marks a significant step up from prior years. When Wema declared N1.00 per share on the back of its 2024 results, Neemtree would have earned approximately N11.87 billion on the same number of shares, assuming the current holding was in place. The 25% increase in dividend per share directly amplifies the windfall for shareholders of Adebutu's scale.
Neemtree has been Adebutu's vehicle for accumulating his stake in Wema since it was incorporated in 2013 specifically to acquire shares in targeted organisations. Through it, he has grown his position in the bank steadily over more than a decade, backing management through capital raises, including a N157 billion rights issue in 2025 that was oversubscribed and helped Wema clear the Central Bank of Nigeria's N200 billion minimum capital threshold ahead of schedule.
The results
Wema's 2025 full-year performance is the strongest in the bank's history by every major measure. Profit before tax rose 116.3% to N222.07 billion from N102.52 billion in 2024. Profit after tax surged 124% to N193.19 billion from N86.28 billion, a result the bank noted surpassed its entire five-year cumulative profit figure on its own.
Gross earnings rose 51% to N653.28 billion, driven primarily by interest income, which climbed 62.7% to N577.10 billion as the bank expanded its loan book and benefited from higher yields on interest-earning assets. Interest expense also rose, up 22.2% to N217.00 billion, but net interest income still grew 103.4% to N360.10 billion. After impairment charges for credit losses, net interest income stood at N337.15 billion, up 116.9% from N155.41 billion in 2024.
The balance sheet expanded sharply. Total assets grew 40.8% to N5.06 trillion, crossing the N5 trillion mark for the first time. Loans and advances to customers rose 45.4% to N1.75 trillion. Customer deposits grew 30.1% to N3.28 trillion, reflecting improved depositor confidence and the bank's continued growth in its retail and digital channels. Total equity attributable to shareholders more than doubled, rising 142.4% to N621.70 billion, supported by the rights issue proceeds and retained earnings.
Wema's digital banking platform, ALAT, Africa's first fully digital bank, has been a key driver of the lender's deposit mobilisation and customer acquisition strategy. Over 98% of transactions now take place outside branches, a figure the bank has used to drive down its cost-to-income ratio and redirect savings into lending growth.
What this means for Adebutu
Adebutu built his fortune in gaming, founding Premier Lotto in Lagos in 1977 and running it for nearly five decades into the most dominant lottery operation in Nigeria. His investment in Wema Bank represents his most significant position in Nigeria's financial sector and has rewarded him handsomely as the bank's turnaround accelerated under Managing Director Moruf Oseni.
Wema Bank shares have been among the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange over the past two years, at one point delivering a 146.7% return within a single calendar year. The share price rally transformed the paper value of Adebutu's stake from roughly $22 million at the start of 2024 to nearly $90 million by mid-2025, before the rights issue diluted his percentage holding while expanding the total share count.
His current holding of 11,872,844,847 shares reflects his participation in the 2025 capital raise, which added to his position in Neemtree's name. His daughter Abolanle Matel-Okoh, a non-executive director of the bank, holds a separate direct stake that will generate its own dividend income from the same N1.25 payout.
The N14.84 billion gross dividend is the largest single dividend payment Adebutu has received from Wema in his history as the bank's principal shareholder, and it arrives in the same year the bank crossed N5 trillion in total assets and posted profit that exceeded its entire five-year historical earnings in a single reporting period.
