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Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria's largest financial institutions, posted only modest growth in profit and revenue for 2025, as interest income — its main earnings driver — recorded its weakest growth since 2021, while trading gains swung from a major boost the previous year to a loss.
According to its audited accounts released Tuesday, the lender’s post-tax profit rose just 0.7 per cent to N1.04 trillion from N1.03 trillion. Revenue followed a similar pattern, increasing slightly from N4 trillion to N4.2 trillion.
A comparable trend was seen at tier-1 competitor Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), which last week reported its slowest interest income growth in four years after net profit fell 15 per cent to N865.7 billion.
Even though Zenith posted a modest improvement in annual profit for the year ended December 31, 2025, its board proposed roughly doubling the total dividend per share paid to shareholders, a move that would hand founder and chairman Jim Ovia a payout of approximately N58.01 billion ($41.44 million) based on his current shareholding of 5,801,238,332 shares in the lender.
The proposed total dividend of N10.00 per share for FY2025 represents a twofold increase over the N5.00 per share paid for the 2024 financial year, which comprised a N1.00 interim and a N4.00 final. Zenith had already paid an interim dividend of N1.25 per share for the first half of 2025, a 25% uplift from the N1.00 per share interim paid in H1 2024. The proposed final dividend of N8.75 per share, pending shareholder approval, would bring the full-year total to N10.00.
The bank's Group Managing Director and CEO, Dame Dr. Adaora Umeoji, had signalled the direction of travel as far back as the H1 2025 results in September, when she assured shareholders of a "quantum year-end dividend for 2025" and described the bank as positioned to "deliver exceptional returns." That language now has a number attached to it.
Ovia, who founded Zenith Bank in 1990 and remains its chairman, holds his stake through a combination of direct and indirect shareholdings. At N10.00 per share on 5,801,238,332 shares, his total dividend income from the bank's 2025 payout would amount to N58.01 billion ($41.44 million) if the proposed distribution is approved at the annual general meeting. That would be more than double the N25.4 billion ($18.14 million) he received for the 2024 financial year when the total dividend stood at N5.00 per share.
The scale of the proposed payout reflects both the growth in Zenith Bank's earnings base and the significant expansion of its share capital following a capital raise in 2024, which increased total issued shares from approximately 31.4 billion to 41.1 billion units.
Zenith's dividend trajectory has been consistently upward. Total dividends per share were N4.00 in 2023 (N0.50 interim, N3.50 final), N5.00 in 2024 (N1.00 interim, N4.00 final) and now a proposed N10.00 for 2025 if the final dividend is approved. At the 2025 AGM held in April of that year, Umeoji had specifically promised a "quantum leap in dividends going forward." The proposed 2025 payout would make good on that commitment in a single step.
The bank has paid a dividend every year without interruption, a record it has maintained consistently since inception and one Ovia has cited repeatedly as a core measure of the institution's value to shareholders. "The consistency of Zenith Bank dividend payout has never been matched in Nigeria," a shareholder association chairman noted at the 2025 AGM.
Zenith Bank is the largest Nigerian lender by Tier-1 capital, a position it has held for 16 consecutive years. Its total assets stood at N31 trillion ($22.14 billion) as of June 2025, with customers deposits of N23 trillion ($16.43 billion) and shareholders equity of N4.6 trillion ($3.29 billion). The bank's non-performing loan ratio had improved to 3.1% in June 2025 from 4.7% at the end of 2024, while capital adequacy stood at 26%, well above regulatory minimums. Full-year 2025 figures are expected to reflect continued asset growth across those metrics.
The proposed dividend, once approved, would make Ovia one of the largest individual dividend recipients from any Nigerian listed company in a single financial year.
